Officials OK county budget

Amendment to courthouse expansion plans approved

BENTONVILLE — The Quorum Court approved the 2021 budget during an online meeting Thursday night.

The total budget ( general and road) is just under $60 million. The county has $12.6 million in reserve. The county has a surplus of $1.1 million.

Justices of the peace, meeting as the Budget Committee, discussed budget requests from elected officials last month.

Committee Chairman Tom Allen said this budget process was one of the best he’s experienced during his tenure on the Quorum Court.

“I believe one reason it was so smooth was because of the fact that we asked all of the elected officials to revise their 2020 budget early in the year due to the concern of decreased revenues and increased expenses related to covid-19,” Allen said. “The requests from the elected officials for the 2021 budget were well beneath our projected revenue for 2021. They all bought into a teamwork mentality to really take the conservative approach due to what might be in store for us with covid-19 in 2021.”

The Road Department’s budget is $13.4 million. The Sheriff ’s Office budget is $12.4 million and the jail is at $11.4 million.

In the budget is 3% merit raises for employees with an overall cap of 5%, according to documents.

County Judge Barry Moehring also briefly discussed an amendment to the courthouse expansion budget at the meeting as justices of the peace moved through the agenda in under 40 minutes.

A new courtroom is needed for Christine Horwart, who was elected in March and will be the county’s seventh circuit court judge. She takes office Jan. 1. The Arkansas Legislature added the judgeship to assist with the increasing caseload.

The county plans to demolish the one-story section behind the courthouse that housed the coroner’s office. A two-story addition is planned on the site with a lobby area on the first floor. Horwart’s courtroom and office area will be on the second floor. The expansion will add 5,500 square feet to the downtown courthouse, which is 28,080 square feet.

The current expansion plan includes an awning that extends over the concrete walkway to the entrance and exit for the building. The awning will be replaced with a covered extension of the building itself.

Moehring called the extension a more robust cover for people who sometimes have to wait outside to get into the courthouse.

Justices of the peace Mike McKenzie and Shirley Sandlin said they liked the improvement.

The county had allocated $30,000 for the original awning. Moehring said up to $ 75,000 more would be needed for the extension. The amendment was approved as part of the 2021 budget. The money will come from the surplus.