Benton County starts budget talks

BENTONVILLE — Benton County justices of the peace began steps Tuesday in preparing the 2021 budget.

It was their first meeting to plan for next year’s budget.

Brenda Guenther, county comptroller, said the 2020 budget is $44.5 million for the general fund and $58.5 million for the general fund and road fund. The county cut $3.5 million from the budget because of covid-19. She said next year’s budget is at $45.3 million for general and $59.3 million for the general and road.

She gave the justices a preview of the projected budget.

The justices of the peace are requesting a 2% pay increase for employees be considered in next year’s budget.

Guenther said the overall expense budget general and road is up 1.34%; the general budget is up 1.95% and road is up .6%.

Guenther said each department will present capital requests for the 2021 budget. The next budget meeting will be at 6 p.m. Thursday at the County Administration Building. County Judge Barry Moehring and County Tax Collector Gloria Peterson will make their budget presentations at the meeting.

Justice of the Peace James Ferguson wanted to know the status of the jail expansion.

Maj. Kenny Paul with the Sheriff’s Office said the expansion project is still on Sheriff Shawn Holloway’s mind. Paul said the inmate population has been down because of covid-19, but he expects it to increase. Paul said the sheriff will talk later about expanding the jail.

Justice of the Peace Tom Allen said the budget projection looks rosy, but they also have to plan for possible big building projects. Allen said the Quorum Court may look to set aside money for the projects. Allen said it’s beneficial to the county to have plenty of money in the reserve.

Moehring said the next big building project for the county is expanding the jail.

The group met as the Finance Committee prior the budget meeting. The justices of the peace approved the 2020 assessments for real and personal property being fixed and levied at 5 mills on each dollar or assessed value of the

property. The property tax for the county for the assessments will be fixed and levied at 1.9 mills and the property tax for the ambulance service improvement district be fixed and levied at 0.2 mills.

County Clerk Betsy Harrell told the group the office processed more than 12,200 absentee ballots and still had to get out more than 600 to 700 ballots to process. Early voting starts Oct. 19.