Officials spar over ’22 budget

FAYETTEVILLE — Washington County’s justices of the peace were at odds Tuesday over how to develop the 2022 budget.

The Quorum Court’s Finance & Budget Committee met Tuesday and heard Patrick Deakins, justice 0f the peace for District 5 and chairman of the committee, outline his wishes for the budget process.

Deakins’ guidelines included giving precedence to comments from committee members. There are six justices of the peace on the committee out of the 15 serving on the Quorum Court. Deakins asked non-member justices of the

peace to sit in the audience if they are present in the meeting room and allowed those participating remotely to comment after committee members.

“I want the committee members to be able to feel deliberative in their comments and not be talked over,” Deakins said.

Eva Madison, justice of the peace for District 9, who isn’t a member of the committee, said those not included on the panel are being “demoted.”

“Are we going to be given the same unconstrained opportunity to ask questions or are we going to be limited,” Madison said.

Madison said Deakins was indulging in a “power trip” by limiting debate.

Deakins said he was attempting to “prevent interruptions and advocacy” and ended the discussion.

Deakins said earlier in the meeting he wants to begin work on the 2022 budget in June and has asked Treasurer Bobby Hill to give the justices of the peace revenue projections at that time. He said he will ask budgets be prepared by elected officials and department heads in July and employee raises be considered “on the front end” of the budget process. Deakins said he will also ask the budgets presented include recurring and operational costs only, with one-time expenses or capital projects presented separately.

While it wasn’t on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, there was some discussion of how the county should handle the $4.5 million it has received in federal CARES Act money during the public comment segment of the meeting.

Evelyn Rios Stafford, justice of the peace for District 12, a non-member of the committee, said she watched a recent Benton County Finance Committee meeting and suggested Washington County could follow its example. Stafford said Benton County’s justices of the peace have received a detailed accounting of its covid-19 expenses, both direct and indirect costs, and formed a working committee to consider how to distribute $3.8 million in CARES Act money.

“We have not had anywhere near that kind of straightforward presentation,” Stafford said.