Justices approve raises for SFC chief deputies Money appropriated for prosecutor’s office

St. Francis County Quorum Court on Tuesday agreed to appropriate funds to provide raises for chief deputies in each of the county’s elected offices.

SFC Judge Craig Jones explained the starting pay for a chief deputy in an elected official's office is $13.61 per hour, which is "not much of a pop to have that much responsibility.”

"On May 7, we held a personnel meeting," explained Jones. "Mrs. (Ginadell) Adams, (SFC Assessor) came to the personnel meeting and addressed a problem. A chief deputy is the main administrator in the office. If an elected official is out of pocket, the chief deputy runs the office. You want your chief deputy to have a lot of knowledge. Here was the problem. In her office, she appointed a lady as chief deputy who had been there for 30 years. She was making $13.29 an hour. The chief deputy position is $13.61 per hour. That is not much of a pop to have that much responsibility bestowed upon someone."

Jones said that if the new system for raises was adopted, the raises would max out at a raise of $1.50 per hour or 30 years of service.

"Basically, what we came up with was a 50-cent raise for every 10 years and a 25-cent raise for every five years of service," said Jones. "If you have been here for five years and you get appointed as chief deputy, you get a quarter more than what someone gets coming in off of the street. If someone has been there 10 years and they get appointed as chief deputy, they would get 50 cents over the $13.61. It maxes out at $1.50."

The raises would only affect the chief deputies in the main county offices.

"It is broken down to show that it would affect six county offices," said Jones. "The assessor's office, the county clerk's office, the collector's office, the sheriff's office, the judge's office and the circuit clerk's office."

Jones said the raises would encourage the best in the office to take the position of chief deputy and make them want to stay.

"I believe it would encourage people to hang around," said Jones. "If there is a chance that you will be a chief deputy down the road, you will get a bit more money than someone coming in off of the street. Honestly, if you have been there for 30 years, you know what is going on. I am not knocking somebody coming in off of the street, but they should not be making as much as someone who has been here for 30 years. They have dealt with it, they know the situation and they know the problems. It encourages the best in your office to take the position."

Justices unanimously moved in favor of adopting the ordinance which appropriates $8,090 to cover the raises.

Justices also adopted an ordinance for an appropriation to the prosecuting attorney's office in the amount of $170,567.44.

According to Jones, the county needed to adopt the ordinance appropriating funds to the prosecuting attorney's office that should have been done last year.

(Continued from Page 1) “If you all remember, prosecuting attorney Todd Murray was here talking about the Victims of Crime Act and all of that stuff," said Jones. "This is basically going to be a make-up ordinance. We got the money in for this, but if we look back, the money was never appropriated. We need to appropriate the money to clear up the books for 2022."

In other business, Jones told Justices that SFC has never sent a representative from the Court to the Association of Arkansas Quorum Courts meeting.

"I got an email the other day from the Association of Arkansas Counties, which is our group that helps us out similar to how the Municipal League helps the cities," said Jones. "There is an Association of Arkansas Quorum Courts, which is one representative of every Quorum Court in the state. They meet once or twice a year to discuss things going on around the state. You're going to love this. There are 74 that meet every year. We are the only county who has never sent anyone."

According to Jones, the county will pay for a night in a hotel, travel fees and give the Justice who attends a $100 stipend for being the representative.

"What we need is someone who is willing to serve on this committee," said Jones. "They meet on April 22, which is on a Saturday, from 8:30 a.m. until 2 p.m., in Little Rock. What the county will do, is we will get you a hotel room for the night before and give you $100, plus travel fees. I think that would be fair. Do you want to nominate someone or does someone want to volunteer?"

"I'll volunteer to do it," said Justice David Coleman.

Justice Chris Ray was absent from the meeting.