County continues budget discussion

BENTONVILLE — Benton County’s 2019 budget continued to take shape at a meeting Monday night.

The Budget Committee, meeting for the fourth time this month, got an overview of the process so far in a meeting that lasted almost three hours.

“We are going to scrub these numbers and look at them real hard before the next meeting,” Brenda Guenther, comptroller, said.

Capital requests were discussed again. Among them, the Sheriff’s Office wants to replace a mix of mostly Dodge Chargers and Chevrolet Tahoes because of high mileage.

Committee Chairman Tom Allen suggested going line by line for all vehicle requests to see which ones could be fixed this year and maybe come back next year and look at new vehicles where possible.

“Could we spend five grand in repairs instead of 30,000 for a new one?” Allen asked.

Sheriff Shawn Holloway told the committee one truck in his capital request list could be cut after it was asked if the Sheriff’s Office could make do with fewer Tahoes.

At the jail, a body scanner costing $175,000 is in the capital requests. The request was cut during the budget process the past two years. Justice of the Peace Susan Anglin backed the scanner’s purchase for 2019.

“We should have had it the first year,” Anglin said.

The county should pursue grant money to pay for

the body scanner, Allen said.

In personnel requests, Guenther showed an update for the Sheriff’s Office that had more money for four positions for work details and for the vans and trailers needed for the work.

Holloway told the committee last week when the jail gets overcrowded the first thing the office does is release people serving misdemeanor sentences. The new work details would be for misdemeanor prisoners who would pick up litter or do other jobs. The misdemeanor inmates would work, and then at the end of the day go home, Holloway said.

Justice of the Peace Joel Edwards questioned Holloway on Monday night about the possibility of using parttime deputies for the work detail.

Part-time deputies isn’t an an option because many have full-time jobs they are at when the work details would be out, Holloway said.

“That’s a big ask,” Edwards said of the requests for personnel and equipment costing a combined $363,680. Holloway said the idea could be scaled back. He said the office

could start with one deputy for the program and use one van and trailer.

The Road Department has $2.79 million in capital requests, the same amount as last year. There also are plans to sell about $700,00 in used Road Department equipment.

Capital building projects include an upgrade to an elevator in the courthouse for $75,000. Bryan Beeson, facilities administrator, said another elevator in the County Administration Building will be updated in December. That elevator project was approved for this year. Both elevators will get new electronics,

lights, motors and pumps, Beeson said.

“Stuff wears out,” Beeson said.

Overall capital requests for all departments seemed within reason, Justice of the Peace Kurt Moore said.

“They really haven’t fluffed anything,” Moore said. “Anything we cut out we will have to buy next year.”

Budget discussions will continue when the committee meets again on Nov. 4 where Guenther will provide revised numbers.