By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
In a hastily planned meeting between three St. Francis County Quorum Court members and the county's six elected officials this morning, a decision was made to postpone any further budget talks until the final statement from this year's tax collections are released in December.
Justice Henry Wilkinson introduced the idea this morning. "I think that we're wasting our time trying to determine anything until we get the final settlement and we know what the real dollars and cents are. Anything else will be unrealistic."
"You have two diametrically opposed ideas. One is a budget that will balance, and the other is a budget that will not balance. The one that balances cuts the sheriff to the point where he says that he can't operate, and we have to reconcile that. I don't think that we can do that until we have actual dollars and cents," Wilkinson said.
According to St. Francis County Clerk Elizabeth Smith, an effort will be made to get the settlement at the beginning of next month as opposed to closer to the end of the month, which is normal.
"We're going to try to get that speeded up and hopefully we can have that by the first of December," Smith said.
County budget committee chairman O.J. Gandy questioned the legality of postponing the budget.
In response to Gandy's concerns, County Judge Carl Cisco said, "I think that by law you have to levee the taxes in November. A part of levying the taxes has always been your budget process so I think that it has just gone hand in hand, but I don't think that you have to pass a budget in November."
According to Wilkinson, some Arkansas counties that faced the same budget problems as St. Francis County didn't establish a budget until the Spring of 2001.
Smith said that she also knows of counties which carry over their budget into the next year.
According to Cisco, that process involves a vote to extend the budget the county is currently operating under until a specified time.
"I think that what the legislators want counties to do is to go ahead and do their budget process in order for them to be aware of what funds they have and so-forth. If we have the settlement by the first of December I don't think that would be a problem," Cisco said.
St. Francis County Sheriff Dave Parkman reiterated to committee members this morning that under the current budget projections he could not operate his department. Parkman also asked about the possibility of paying the county's 911 dispatchers out of 911 funds for next year.
According to Justice Regan Hill, 911 dispatchers have been paid out of the fund for the past two years but the funding wouldn't be there to do so this year.
Parkman also spoke about the feasibility of moving all of the 911 operations for St. Francis County to the Sheriff's department. The Forrest City Police Department currently handles the dispatching for 911 calls inside the city of Forrest City.
"You (Cisco) promised me that you and Linda (911 coordinator Linda Thweatt) would look into this. I'd like to see if we could do all of the dispatching out of the county jail and relieve the city of any expenditures that they might have," said Parkman.
According to Cisco, information was still being gathered and he had not been in contact with Forrest City Mayor Larry Bryant about the transferring of the city's 911 duties.
St. Francis County Treasurer Ann Harbin also reminded justices of the funds that have to be paid back out of the final settlement. According to Hill, over $130,000 has to be paid back from the settlement. Harbin also told justices that all accounts have to be balanced before Dec. 31 in order to meet with state requirements which would call for additional settlement funds being used to balance some county accounts.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
A loan given to the East Arkansas Enterprise Corporation has been moved to a Forrest City bank, according to EAEC consultant Dr. Robert Cole. The location of that loan was recently questioned by those associated with the EAEC.
Cole said the money remaining in the $500,000 loan fund, which is being supervised by the Enterprise Corporation of the Delta, was recently moved from a bank in Mississippi to Forrest City Bank after complaints were lodged by members of the EAEC board and state officials.
"There was never a problem with the funds. Once the ALFDC (Arkansas Land Farm Development Corporation) turned the check over to the ECD they put the check in one of the banks that they use. When they found out there were questions about the location of the money they were happy to open an account in this area," said Cole.
Questions have also been raised regarding a $1.5 million loan fund which was to also be used in the four-county enterprise community. According to Cole, the $500,000 fund was used by the ECD to leverage the additional $1.5 million in funding.
"Our agreement with the ECD allowed them to use the $500,000 that we received to leverage the additional funds. All of that funding was then to be used in our enterprise community for high-risk loans. Currently, we have close to $300,000 in loans that are pending. I sit on the loan committee, and the ECD has someone at our office to work on the loans two days a week," Cole said.
Cole also answered questions about the method used to draw down the funds from the federal government. Officials with the Arkansas Department of Human Services have questioned the fact that the full $500,000 was drawn down 14 months ago and has not yet been fully dispersed. According to Cole, those funds were to be dispersed within a "reasonable" period of time.
"We received this draw down with written approval from the USDA. Their only restrictions were that the funds be dispersed within a 'reasonable' amount of time, and we determined that 'reasonable' would be 18 months to two years. We submitted all of that information to the USDA before we received the funding, and the USDA approved it, so I don't understand why DHS has a problem with that," Cole said.
The next meeting of the EAEC board is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 20, in the quorum court meeting room at the St. Francis County Courthouse.
More than $4 million in the recently passed Energy and Water Appropriations Bill will be used to alleviate flooding in the St. Francis Basin in Arkansas and Missouri, including some local areas.
The announcement was made jointly by U.S. Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Tim Hutchinson, (R-Ark.) and U.S. Rep. Marion Berry (D-Ark.).
The funding includes $250,000 for a feasibility study of restoration activities at Horseshoe Lake and $50,000 to complete the feasibility study of Spring Creek in St. Francis County.
Some of the other projects funded include:
*$50,000 for the preparation of a comprehensive drainage basin plan for Francis Bland Floodway Dutch (Eight Mile Creek) and tributaries in the Paragould area;
*$1 million to complete plans and specifications and to initiate construction on the Slackwater Harbor, Russellville;
*$600,000 to complete the feasibility study of the Blytheville Slackwater Harbor;
*$50,000 to complete the feasibility study of Bono Lake;
*$324,000 for construction of the Big Slough Ditch in Craighead County.
Lincoln was quoted in a joint press release as saying the projects are important to Arkansas.
"These projects are vital to Arkansas' flood control, navigation and recreation priorities as well as to insure a clean, safe and plentiful water supply," she said. "All the work that has gone into obtaining these projects on the federal level has been matched locally by community leaders from across the state, and without their efforts these projects would have never become reality."
Hutchinson was quoted as saying the projects will offer opportunities to diversify the economy.
"This funding will help guarantee Arkansans have reliable access to navigable waterways and safe and abundant supplies of water," he said.
Berry said he was pleased that so many projects have been funded.
"This legislation truly represents tha we are making real progress toward protecting groundwater resources," he said. "These valuable initiatives will allow the Corps of Engineers to work on projects that will improve navigation and provide better methods of flood control in our state."
There was also funding for the North Little Rock Levee and Floodwall planning; a study of navigation on the Arkansas river in Arkansas and Oklahoma; a study to determine the feasibility of maintaining a navigable water level on the White River to Newport; the Delta Regional Authority, which provides long term coordination among federal, state and local entities in the Lower Mississippi Delta; and others.
The Forrest City City Council will meet Tuesday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. at city hall.
There are two bid openings on the agenda -- one for a new repeater system and hand-held radios, and one for a chassis and leaf dump body.
Three ordinances are also scheduled to be introduced. One would rezone the old Herman Young peach orchard on Ark. Highway 1 South from residential to commercial. One would establish a deferred compensation plan for the city. The third would amend subdivision regulations to require street lights at intersections at the developers' expense.
There will also be a resolution providing for the condemnation and removal of some structures.