Quorum court to consider 2-percent COLA

A preliminary $18.4 million General Fund budget for 2018 that includes a 2-percent cost-of-living adjustment for Garland County employees was advanced earlier this week.

The Garland County Quorum Court Finance Committee gave a do-pass recommendation to the General Fund budget and all restricted fund budgets, sending them to the full quorum court for it to consider later this year.

The General Fund budget appropriates 86.4 percent of the $21.3 million expected to accrue to the fund next year. State law prohibits funds from being appropriated beyond 90 percent of their anticipated revenue.

The $18.4 million outlay marks a 15-percent increase over the $16 million the county appropriated last year for the 2017 General Fund budget, which included a 3-percent cost-of-living adjustment. According to the county’s 2018 and 2017 budget books, General Fund personnel costs will rise more than 6 percent next year to $10.1 million.

Next year’s budget also calls for a $1 million transfer to the Capital Reserve Fund to help pay for the $5.6 million communication upgrade that will make the county a full-time user on the Arkansas Wireless Information Network.

Next year’s budget includes

$522,573 in General Fund capital costs, including $259,198 for seven sport utility vehicles and two pickup trucks for the Garland County Sheriff’s Department, that mark a 65-percent increase from the $317,307 appropriated for the current year.

The preliminary 2017 General Fund budget projected

$18.9 million in revenue, or

12 percent less than the $21.3 million forecast for next year. Next year’s revenue projection is an 8.3-percent increase when compared to actual revenue received through July and the revenue forecasts for the remainder of the year, according to next year’s budget book.

Projected 2018 revenue includes a $5.3 million beginning balance, a 23-percent increase from the balance carried over from 2016 to 2017. General Fund revenue from the halfcent sales tax the county levies for its General and Solid Waste funds is projected at $6.6 million, which will account for 80 percent of the total receipts.

The 20-percent balance that supports the Solid Waste fund is expected to raise more than

$1.6 million.

The 1.2 mills levied for the General Fund is projected to raise $2 million. The county Road Fund will receive more than $1.7 million of those proceeds via an inter-fund transfer.

The General Fund and all of the county’s restricted funds are expected to total $122.7 million in revenue next year, which includes $48.4 million from the $54.6 million road improvement bond issue the county floated last year. Next year’s budget allocates $8.2 million from the bond fund — including $3.8 million for county road projects, $1 million for road projects in Hot Springs and $3 million toward the $30 million commitment to partner with the state on the

5.16 mile-extension of the King Expressway.

The quorum court will consider a 2018 budget ordinance that appropriates $69.6 million in total spending, which includes $8.2 million in 2018 road bond projects and $5.6 million for the current year.

The total without the road bond outlays is $55.8 million, or 9.4 percent more than the

$50.9 million appropriated for the current year.