2021 budget for county gets rejected

Official plans single-item special meeting to address it

FAYETTEVILLE — Washington County’s proposed 2021 budget was rejected Thursday by the county’s justices of the peace, leaving the county finances in limbo.

County Judge Joseph Wood said after Thursday’s meeting he plans to call a special Quorum Court meeting for 5 p.m. Monday to deal with the budget.

“This will be a single-item agenda, trying to get the budget taken care of,” Wood said

The Quorum Court voted down the 2021 budget, with six justices of the peace in favor and eight against.

Those voting for the budget were: Butch Pond, justice of the peace for District 15, Lance Johnson, justice of the peace for District 1, Susan Cunningham, justice of the peace for District 2, Lisa Ecke, justice of the peace for District 6, Sam Duncan, justice of the peace for District 7, and Ann Harbison, justice of the peace for District 14.

Those voting against were: Judith Yanez, justice of the peace for District 4, Patrick Deakins, justice of the peace for District 5, Shawndra Washington, justice of the peace for District 8, Eva Madison, justice of the peace for District 9, Andrea Jenkins, justice of the peace for District 10, Suki Highers, justice of the peace for District 11, Sue Madison, justice of the peace for District 12, and Willie Leming, justice of the peace for District 13.

Wood said much of the discussion at Thursday meeting was about items approved by the justices of the peace in earlier budget meetings but not yet included in the budget.

“Those items came before them and they approved them,” Wood said. “But they never went back and amended the budget. Until they add those amendments the budget is still going to be off.”

Several justices of the peace said they wanted a detailed listing of the changes. Brian Lester, county attorney, read descriptions of the changes, mostly changes in job titles and pay, at Thursday’s meeting but said he didn’t have information on the total cost of the changes. Wood said that information will be compiled and presented to the justices of the peace for Monday’s meeting.

Lester said the justices of the peace should have been aware the items they had already approved needed to be added to the budget presented in September.

Lester said he believes state law allows the county to continue to fund “essential” operations in the event the Quorum Court doesn’t approve a budget by the end of the year as required.

Eva Madison said during the meeting she couldn’t vote for a budget without having the information in advance.

“Just to clarify, we’re being asked to vote on a budget we don’t have with changes that we don’t know the effect of,” Madison said. “I cannot vote on something I can’t see. I don’t want to vote on this and then in three weeks be surprised when it all comes out.”

Pond said the Quorum Court needs to approve the budget and leave the management of the county to the elected officials. He said the justices of the peace already addressed the changes presented for inclusion in the budget Thursday.

“Each of these items were talked about individually, each of them was presented individually, and we voted to pass them individually,” Pond said.

Ecke said the Quorum Court has “limited” power.

“The Quorum Court may not participate in day-t0-day operations,” Ecke said. “We are to fund county government and not to interfere.”

Deakins said his vote against the budget was an expression of his dissatisfaction with several issues. He cited the decision to give employees flat monthly raises rather then raises based on a percentage of an employee’s pay, and also the delay in budgeting for the 27th pay period for employees in 2020, something that will cost the county about $1.3 million. He also said he doesn’t agree with the county’s spending levels. Deakins said the entire budget process needs to change.

“The budget process has always been flawed in my mind,” Deakins said. “We’ve got to start earlier next year. We’ve got to get the elected officials’ budgets turned in to the Quorum Court and then we need to set the parameters we want as a Quorum Court and work from there.”