Vote ‘for’ courts

Benton County plan responsible, measured

Look hard and long enough and one can find a reason to oppose even the most reasonable solution to a challenge facing a community.

Make no mistake: Benton County desperately needs to improve its circumstances in terms of its courts system. Listen closely to even the staunchest critics of Tuesday’s ballot proposal to build a new courts building in downtown Bentonville. None of them say Benton County ought to just be happy with the current Band-Aided, spread-out, unsafe and inconvenient collection of courts sprinkled around downtown.

Nobody can justify a pitch for the status quo. The county courthouse was built in 1928. Benton County has changed a bit in 91 years, hasn’t it?

Fiscally conservative Benton County residents — and there are plenty of them — could be slapping a long list of county leaders on the back and saying “Congratulations on making do for so long.” County leaders have done just that. As the county has seen its population boom over the last several decades, its leaders have figured out ways to stitch together an expanding court system needed to administer justice. That’s in everything from murder cases to local divorces to child custody to disputes over contracts and property.

It requires a certain head-in-thesand approach for anyone to believe Benton County should just keep operating on a patchwork system of courts — three of them crammed into the original courthouse; two more accommodated in retrofitted buildings that were never intended to be courtrooms.

Count your blessings if you’ve never had reason to set foot inside a courtroom. Being party to a criminal or civil case often means something hasn’t gone as planned. Becoming entangled in a legal case can be the worst of experiences even if it’s in the best of environments. Cramped, inefficient spaces with make-do security makes such experiences worse and, yes, more dangerous for everyone. Benton County has just gotten by, and so far has gotten away with it. But having a proper facility for the operation of the courts has been a topic of conversation for more than two decades. In all those years, the taxpayers of Benton County have been living on borrowed time and enjoying the benefits of kicking their judicial system can a little farther down the road.

It’s time to stop kicking. It’s time for Benton County residents to empower their elected officials to build a courts building that meets today’s demand and provides moderate room for future growth without extravagances.

The Benton County Quorum Court has long reflected the pinch-a-penny attitudes of its constituents. In part, that fiscal conservatism has driven the county to delay a long-term solution to its court needs. Eventually, though, the need becomes too great to ignore. Benton County is beyond that point.

Barry Moehring, now the county judge but formerly one of those justices of the peace on the Quorum Court, took office a couple of years ago pledging to bring forward a reasonable proposal to deal with this need, and he’s done it. On Tuesday, voters will be asked to authorize a one-eighth percent sales tax (the smallest increment the county can seek under state law). That tax can stay in place no longer than 54 months. It cannot be continued without another vote of the people. The tax is designed to raise the money needed to pay for a new building on Northeast Second Street downtown. The building is expected to cost $30 million. Benton County plans to spend another $5 million renovating space inside the current courthouse so that county-owned space can be used for other offices and space for public meetings.

Five of the county’s circuit court judges — all except the juvenile court judge, whose court is at the juvenile detention center — and support staff will move into the new structure, which will be built to provide ample space for the public while the inner workings of the courts would be in secure areas. Inmates will be housed in secure holding facilities until their time in the courtroom approaches. Families and other attending court sessions would no longer be faced with crowded conditions that put emotionally tense people too close for comfort in current courtroom spaces.

In short, Benton County will get the kind of courthouse it needs today and for many years to come.

We’ve heard the criticisms. For one, the tired refrain used against many public projects, that it’s a Taj Mahal that could be built for half as much. After 91 years of making do, getting Benton County’s growing court system into a secure and adequate facility does demand a major investment, but nothing about this project is unreasonable. A courthouse can’t be like any other building. It has to function as a parttime secure environment for people charged with serious crimes. It has to provide a palpably safe environment for jurors, court clerks, witnesses, attorneys and others to perform their duties. It must be a building that anticipates conflict in the midst of tense circumstances and helps to prevent it from boiling over.

And wisely, Benton County leaders have provided modest room for future growth, because it would be a foolish plan if this structure didn’t. Does anyone see signs that Benton County is going to stop drawing more people?

Then there’s the concerns about this being a special election. That’s a fine argument to have, but it’s not an argument for or against the courthouse project. Voters have every bit as much right to vote in this election as they do in General Elections. It is hardly anyone else’s fault if they decide to stay home.

As for the sales tax, it’s small, it’s directed to a specific project and it’s a fairly short duration. It also creates an avenue by which visitors spending money in Benton County will help pay for the project, lifting some of the financial burden from local taxpayers.

Is there another way this could be tackled? A Plan B? Of course, there is. But the plan on Tuesday’s ballot is a strong proposal that solves what needs to be solved in a fiscally responsible way. It is strong enough to deserve a favorable vote. Rejection, in our view, cannot produce a significantly better plan, but it will delay the project and, as anyone in construction will tell you, delay means money. It will cost more to build less two, five or 10 years down the road, and Benton County’s strained judicial system will languish.

It’s taken Benton County leaders years to reach this point, through very deliberate — frustratingly deliberate — planning and debate. The elements of a modern courts facility have been exhaustively reviewed and dovetailed with a responsible mechanism for funding construction, and paired with private donation of the land, a $2 million grant from the Walton Family Foundation and a parking deck for up to 400 vehicles by Off-Street Parking District No. 3.

This proposal is the right one for Benton County.