County attorney: JPs can OK only HSMP report, not invoice

County Attorney John Howard told the Garland County Quorum Court at its June 12 meeting it had no authority to withhold funds it appropriated for the county’s $87,500 contract for economic development services.

The admonition came as a surprise to the court, considering the monthly invoice the Hot Springs Metro Partnership submits for approval is what justices of the peace had been voting on since the county began paying the contract in monthly installments in 2016.

JP Larry Raney, R-District 13, amended his motion to approve the June invoice after Howard said the disbursement of appropriated funds falls under County Judge Darryl Mahoney’s authority. Howard noted the contract calls for delivering payment following a satisfactory progress report from HSMP.

“What you’re approving is a report,” he told the court. “If this body finds the report is not satisfactory, it could then ask the county judge to hold that payment until you receive a satisfactory report. You should not consider that you are approving the invoice. It’s a separation of powers issue.”

JP Dayton Myers, R-District 7, asked why five consecutive quorum courts had been voting on the invoice and not the report.

“We shouldn’t have been doing that,” Howard replied.

The report was approved by voice vote, but Myers abstained from the earlier roll call vote on the invoice. He voted against approving the May invoice at last month’s meeting, telling HSMP he wanted to know how The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce-affiliated nonprofit was spending taxpayer dollars.

HSMP provided three years of financial records after Myers requested them through the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. HSMP Chairman Scott Dews told the quorum court the request was a “fishing expedition” that distracted HSMP from providing economic development services for the county and city of Hot Springs. Its contract with the city pays HSMP $100,000 a year.

“At the urging of our board, we are tracking the budgeted resources that

are being diverted to support Justice Myers’ FOIA request, including staff time and attorney fees,” Dews said in the more than 2,000-word statement he read at the June 12 meeting.

Dews’ statement can be read in its entirety at https://www.hotsr.com/documents/2023/jun/22/quorum-court-statement/

The standing-room-only-crowd in the county courtroom included more than 30 HSMP board members, investors and employees. Dews said they “felt attacked” by Myers.

“This was an attempt to defend our character, which we all felt was under attack by this investigation,” he told the court. “It’s really just a fishing expedition.”

Myers said HSMP has yet to account for how it spends taxpayer dollars, arguing money it receives from the county and city is more of a subsidy for the chamber of commerce than a fee for economic development services. Dews’ statement said the $363,000 administrative reimbursement HSMP paid the chamber last year provided for all or a portion of the salaries and benefits of six employees of the chamber and HSMP.

“I think we need to figure out whether the Metro Partnership is simply serving as a subsidy for the chamber of commerce’s income, since they don’t have enough income to fund their operations from the dues,” Myers said at the quorum court’s June 5 finance committee meeting.

He isn’t on the committee, but he asked it to table the motion advancing the June invoice to the full quorum court.

“Before we continue to keep allocating this money every month, I think we need to look into how it’s being spent,” he told the committee.

Myers asked if taxpayer dollars were used in support of sales tax ballot initiatives. The chamber’s political action committee contributed $25,000 to the For Our Roads Now campaign that advocated for the passage of a second reauthorization of the countywide 0.625% sales tax in a February 2022 special election.

“The chamber, maybe out of the same checking account where the Metro Partnership’s money is being deposited, is then making contributions to its chamber PAC,” he said at the June 12 meeting. “That is then in turn running sales tax campaigns that actually hurt the taxpayers of Garland County from the mindset they have to pay for it.

“I would go as far as to say that our money we give the Metro Partnership is being used to fund sales tax campaigns against our constituents.”

Dews said private businesses provide most of HSMP’s income.

“To say that county money is absolutely going to those campaigns, if we were 100% public supported, I would agree,” he said “We’re not.”

Raney said HSMP funding should be discussed during 2024 budget hearings in the fall, not at monthly quorum court and committee meetings.

“If we want to talk about this lets form a committee and start talking about it and get ready for October when it comes up for review,” he said.

HSMP’s funding for the current year wasn’t discussed or debated during last fall’s budget hearings. The $103 million 2023 county budget the quorum court appropriated in December raised HSMP’s funding from $75,000 to $87,500.