JP 8 candidates agree on pay raises
Finding money to increase county employees’ pay amid a projected decline in 2015 General Fund revenue should be a priority, according to the candidates for District 8 justice of the peace.
Republican incumbent Ellen Varhalla and Democratic opponent Daniel Johnson concur that raises are overdue after several years without a cost-of-living adjustment, but both are against the Garland County Quorum Court levying a General Fund millage.
Levying taxes and appropriating money for county expenses are the primary functions of the 13 JPs who comprise the quorum court. The part-time legislators also determine pay for county employees and the number of personnel assigned to each county department. They receive $5,150 in salary. District 3 covers southwestern Garland County, covering a territory entirely outside the incorporated area of Hot Springs.
Varhalla, a retired mechanical engineer who outpolled Dean McDaniel to fill the District 8 seat vacated by the retiring Jimmie Harmon in 2012, said earlier quorum courts have pledged not to impose the millage and instead use the half-cent county sales tax to support the General Fund.
Twenty percent of the sales tax revenue, which isn’t projected to increase
from the $6.45 million in anticipated 2014 collections, goes to the solid waste fund.
“We’ve tried hard not to do that,” Varhalla said of the millage levy. “It was a promise they made that they wouldn’t pass a millage. Sometimes it’s a struggle trying to live within our means without a millage.”
Johnson, the son of former County Clerk Nancy Johnson and grandson of former County Tax Collector Kenneth Johnson, agreed that the political will to enact a new revenue stream is lacking.
“I don’t think that’s the proper way,” said the former public and private accountant. “That would make people highly upset.”
Johnson said he expects an uptick in collections judging by the increase he’s seen at Smokin’ In Style BBQ , which he opened in 2004.
“The tax revenue I’m sending in is up,” he said. “I feel like it should be up throughout the entire county.”
Varhalla said raises could be paid for from the savings the county will accrue after the detention center budget is removed from the General Fund next year. It’s projected to reduce budget requests by approximately $3.01 million.
The new county jail slated to be completed by mid December will be supported by a threeeighths cent sales tax that will be remitted into an operation and maintenance fund anticipated to have $8.9 million available for appropriations next year.
“Our deputies need a raise, and we need some more deputies,” she said. “The money going to operate and maintain the detention center will free up some money that’s currently being used.”
Johnson said salary freezes hamstring the county’s retention efforts and disagreed with the Finance Committee vote that will add uniform allowances next year to the regular salary of sheriff’s office personnel. It had been paid out in biannual $ 500 increments, but an IRS compliance audit of the county’s 2012 employment taxes found the allowances weren’t being reported as taxable income.
The county paid a $ 45,730 assessment for failing to collect employer and employee withholdings. For ease of accounting, the allowances will be included in paychecks next year. Johnson said it puts an undue burden on sheriff’s office employees.
“In my opinion, it needs to be done differently,” said Johnson, a former hospital and nursing home auditor who scrutinized Medicare claims and payments for the federal government. “They’re used to getting a set amount twice a year. Now they’re going to have to save that up until they can buy something.
“Uniforms are expensive. Now they have to wait for five paychecks until they have that much money.”
Varhalla said her engineering experience, which is mostly in regulation compliance and the design of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, helped her inform an ordinance last year that updated the county’s master road plan. It amended the specifications for the construction of new roads the county agrees to maintain, improving drainage by implementing minimum design standards subject to the county judge’s approval.
By virtue of her presence on the Public Works and Buildings Committee, she’s contributed to measures advising the city against developing DeGray Lake as a water source and appropriating $100,000 to fund a study guiding the county’s desire to proceed with a water system of its own.
Like other JPs, she’s dubious of the city’s position that the present water supply won’t support development outside the city limits.
“The city’s going ahead with the DeGray project when there are much more economically feasible ways of dealing with the issue,” said Varhalla, who also sits on the Environmental Service and Ordinance committees. “No one has given me a clear reason why they can’t increase capacity from upper Lake Hamilton from 25 million gallons per day to the 30 million gallons a day the Entergy contract allows.”
His Democratic affiliation notwithstanding, Johnson said keeping a restaurant afloat during uncertain economic times underscores his conservative credentials.
“I’m a Democrat, but a conservative Democrat,” he said. “I’ve been in the restaurant business for 10 years, and that’s tough to do without being somewhat conservative. I believe I have a proven track record to keep the county moving forward.”