By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Members of the St. Francis County Quorum Court and elected officials met this morning to discuss ways of increasing the county general fund during a budget crunch at the county level.
County Judge Carl Cisco said the layoffs earlier this week at the courthouse may not be the only changes that are made.
"We've had good cooperation from most of the offices here, and the only one that I really haven't had an opportunity to speak with is the Sheriff's Office. Dave (County Sheriff Dave Parkman) has been out of town this week, and I haven't spoken with him, but everyone else has been real cooperative," Cisco said. "It seems strange to me that if Yale or Sanyo lays off five or 10 people nothing is said, but when the courthouse lays off three people it makes front page headlines."
Justices questioned Cisco as to when more funds would be available to the county. Cisco reported that $135,000 owed to the county by the state for the housing of state inmates may be available within the next 60 days.
"The legislature approved the funding to pay the counties earlier this week, and I'm going to Little Rock to find out when we can expect to receive our funding. I'm also going to ask if any counties have been receiving funding. I'm not really sure how the original funding or payments were supposed to work because that is done in the sheriff's office. We've also got the first installments from the utilities on their taxes due in May," said Cisco.
Cisco also told justices that the county tax books opened earlier this week and that taxpayers could now come in and pay their taxes.
"We have some people that come in and pay early, and with the $300 tax break, that may induce people to pay their taxes earlier because they will have the money more readily," he said.
Justices were assured by Cisco that as a whole, the county is in good financial shape, but added that officials will have to keep a tight watch on finances for the next two months.
"Right now, we're trying to meet payroll, pay the insurance and get the utilities paid, and we will be able to do that. We've got a $60,000 CD that we can move over, and that will help us. The money from the bond forfeiture should be here within 60 to 90 days, so after May, we should get funds in so the long run looks fine. But, we've got to look at some areas to see if there are some more permanent changes that can be made in the courthouse," Cisco said.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The president of East Arkansas Community College on Thursday said some scheduled maintenance may have to be deferred and even some course offerings might suffer under a worst-case funding scenario for the next biennium.
Dr. Coy Grace was responding to a press release from the Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges, which paints a fairly dismal picture of the funding possibilities from the legislature.
Dr. Ed Franklin, executive director of the association, was quoted in the release as saying that new funds of only $ 2.41 million are being recommended for the state's 23 two-year colleges, while $19.7 million had been recommended.
Grace said there is a shortage of funding.
"Funding is tight this year, tighter than it has been in a number of years," said Grace. "And the legislature, the governor's office and all state agencies, including higher education, are weighing options in terms of what funding might be."
He said actual funding probably won't be known until near the end of the legislative session.
The $19.7 million figure, according to Grace, was reached by the College Presidents Association with the Arkansas Department of Higher Education.
"They developed a formula that took into account funding for various programs -- scheduled maintenance of buildings and services, that sort of thing -- and that formula for the existing two-year colleges generated the $19.7 million going into the session," said Grace. "That's the amount the two-year colleges hoped to receive. But that's certainly not the amount that has been recommended, due to lack of available funds."
Grace said a cutback on the request of the two-year institutions could, in the worst case, cause some problems.
"It could mean various things," he said. "We're working to determine what that might mean. Off the top of my head, I'd say it could be related to a reduction in some course offerings or in the developing of new programs. And certainly scheduled maintenance of our buildings would have to be deferred.
"However, I remain cautiously optimistic that this will not occur," he added.
In spite of the possible shortfall in operating funds, Grace said that does not necessarily spell doom for the hoped-for Fine Arts Center at EACC.
"Our operating budget does not include requests for capital funding," he said, "so this portion of the budget would not necessarily have an effect on what we might receive for the Fine Arts Center."
He admitted that over-all funding for higher education would be significantly less than it has been.
"We don't know what portion of that (capital improvement funds) we might get in this session for the Fine Arts Center. But we do know there is less money available than during the last session," he said.
By CRYSTAL HOLLIS
T-H Staff Writer
The Forrest City Advertising and Promotions Commission agreed this week to allow the Forrest City Area Chamber of Commerce to control the name of the Mightymite Triathlon along with all logos promoting the event.
The new race director, Rich Trail, will also report to Chamber officials on the money spent on the event and make detailed accounts of money received from entry fees.
A&P Commission Director Kem Merrell told commissioners the former race director, Kenny Worley, was burned out and wanted to step aside. "We would like to see the race revamped as well," said Merrell.
"We gave the Mighty Might money every year for a long time," Merrell said. "We do that for new events until they can get on their own feet, and then we don't have to give them money anymore. But, everytime we would ask them how much money was made, paid-out or just how it was spent for the Mightymite, they could not give us a straight answer. So, we stopped supporting them three or four years ago and they have done just fine," he said. "The event makes money obviously."
Chamber Director of Community Relations Niki Jones reviewed with commissioners a financial report on the 5-A State Tounament.
According to the report, prepared by tournament director Bill Baxter, the tournament had a beginning balance of $14,575, but expenses came in at $15,284.35, a negative difference of $709.35.
Gate receipts were reported to be $29,485. Jones noted Pine Bluff received only $4,700 in gate receipts from this year's state championship games held last weekend. Jones also stated that $18,350 was made in concession sales. All proceeds from the concession sales will be put back into the school.
In other business, the commission also agreed to give $200 to John Alderson of East Arkansas Community College in order to hire someone to enter data from 542 questionnaires that were filled out during the tournament.
Alderson said the information from the surveys will take some time to enter, and will determine the economic impact of the visitors attending the event. He also said he had questioned a few motels and restaurants representatives to determine if sales were up during this time compared to the same time frame last year.
Alderson said he would like more cooperation from the hospitality industry in pursuing the survey. He said some managers and owners are skeptical about responding to the survey for fear the exact dollar amount in sales would be released to the media. Alderson assured the commission that only percentages in sales and dates would be released to the public.
The commission also heard from Mike Dandurand with Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods, representing the Arkansas Delta Byways, about future advertising. The commission tabled the matter until the April meeting.
Laura Mazzanti, Director of the SFC Museum approached the council about possibility of A&P funding to help organize a road rally in May. According to Mazzanti, "Dr. J.O. Rush founded the first auto club in this area and it would be a fitting tribute to the late doctor."
Commission members said they were interested in the idea and would like to hear more from Mazzanti when she can get more figures in order about the cost of the rally.
By CRYSTAL HOLLIS
T-H Staff Writer
Palestine Mayor Willetta Carroll said money the city is expecting from the Federal Emergency Management Agency would be best spent on road repairs.
The city is expecting a check for $24,904 from FEMA as reimbursement for the city's costs in cleaning up after the ice storm in December. Carroll told members of the Palestine City Council this week that the money "would be wisely spent on roads which are in desperate need of paving and flood control."
On a similar matter, residents living on Hudspeth Road in Palestine attended the meeting to voice their concerns over the rising waters from rain and farm irrigation. Resident Delores Hawkins told councilmen the water that has collected in her front yard and that of her neighbors is "so great it would take a boat" to get to the houses.
The drainage along County Road 815 was also discussed.
Carroll told councilmen she had received a letter from St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco stating that the county could pave up to the city limits on that road provided the city would pave the remainder that is located inside the city limits to Highway 70.
Carroll said she will contact contractors about making bids on digging out the ditches to drain water off SFC 815 and Hudspeth Road.
In other business, three people were sworn in during the meeting.
Stanley Barnes is the city's new police chief, Henry Kimble was sworn in as a police sergeant and Rick Plunkett was sworn in as a new councilman representing district one.
St. Francis County had an unemployment rate in January of 10.2 percent. That was up sharply from 7.2 percent in December, but the same as the previous January.
According to the figures from the Arkansas Employment Security Department, the county had the seventh highest unemployment in the state in January.
During that month, the county had a civilian labor force of 11,875, with 10,650 working and 1,225 not working.
The state's highest unemployment rate in January was 13.7, recorded in Desha County. The lowest was 2.2 percent in Benton County. There were nine counties with unemployment above 10 percent. Eleven counties had unemployment below 4 percent, while 23 counties were below 5 percent.
The unemployment in surrounding counties during January was as follows: Cross, 8.5 percent; Crittenden, 5.5 percent; Lee, 11.3 percent; Phillips, 10.7 percent; Monroe, 7.9 percent and Woodruff, 10.1 percent.
The Employment Security Department also released year-end average figures for 2000.
The average unemployment in St. Francis County during 2000 was 8.5 percent. The average civilian labor force in the county during 2000 was 12,100, with 11,075 working and 1,025 not working.
Unemployment in St. Francis County in 2000 ranged from a high of 11.4 percent in March to a low of 6.6 percent in October.
Benton County had the lowest rate, at 2.0 for the year, while Desha had the highest average for the year, at 11.3.
The year-long averages of surrounding counties were as follows: Cross, 5.9 percent; Crittenden, 4.6 percent; Lee, 7.8 percent; Phillips, 8.3 percent; Monroe, 6 percent and Woodruff, 8 percent.
Sales tax revenue for January has been reported by the Arkansas Municipal League.
On the county sales tax, St. Francis County government received $129,976.75, Hughes received $23,879.20, Forrest City received $176,310,32, Wheatley received $5,910.44, Palestine received $9,380.18, Madison received $16,622.68, Caldwell received $4,406.44, Colt received $4,406.44 and Widener received $5,026.48.
Among cities with their own sales taxes, the following revenues were collected. Forrest City received $142,052.98, Hughes received $7,070.70, Madison received $1,613.61, Palestine received $4,075.33 and Wheatley received $3,731.81.
The Hughes Police Department is looking for a suspect who allegedly robbed the Family Dollar Store on South Broadway Street in Hughes just after noon Thursday.
"The suspect was reported to have entered the store, looked around and left before coming back inside to purchase a pack of gum," said HPD Chief Joe Stone. "He gave the cashier 50 cents for the gum, and when she opened the cash register, he reportedly pushed her up against the divider, held her there and took an undetermined amount of cash out of the drawer.
"The suspect then fled the store on foot heading west on Broadway," Stone said.
The suspect is described as a black male, stockily built, between the ages of 25 and 35, standing at about 5 feet and eight to 11 inches tall, with extremely short cropped hair and a mustache.
"On Wednesday, a similar incident occurred at the Family Dollar Store in West Memphis with the suspect fitting the same description," said Stone.
The HPD asks anyone with information about the suspect or the robbery to call the police department at 870-339-2332.
The Forrest City City Council will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 20, at city hall.
Councilmen will discuss a Pepsi contract for the Sports Complex along with several ordinances.