By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
With the governor saying that he will issue a formal call sometime today for a special session starting Monday, a local representative is getting ready for some tough going.
"It's going to be a pressure-cooker session," said Rep. Danny Ferguson, D-Forrest City. "Hopefully, the legislature is going to get together and do something that is going to solve the Medicaid and prison funding crisis that we're in."
According to the Associated Press, the Senate president pro tem, Jim Hill, D-Nashville, suggested Thursday that Huckabee put off issuing his call for a special budget session until legislators agree on a single new revenue source to consider as part of a plan to erase the budget shortfall of more than $200 million in each of the next two years.
However, Gov. Mike Huckabee's office released a statement in which the governor said he would issue the formal call Friday for the special session scheduled to begin Monday.
The Arkansas General Assembly adjourned its regular session April 16 without adopting a budget for the two-year period that begins July 1. A bipartisan group of House conservatives blocked consideration of a tobacco tax increase and a resolution to extend the session.
If the Legislature fails to pass a new budget, state spending would continue at current spending levels after July 1, which the administration says would not be enough to continue programs for thousands of Medicaid recipients or open hundreds of beds in the chronically overcrowded state prison system.
Ferguson said this morning that raising the needed revenue is going to be difficult.
"It's just a real battle," he said. "Everything but the sales tax requires a 75 percent vote, and it takes a lot of consensus building to get 75 people to vote on a tax increase, which is basically what we're talking about."
He said failure to pass a budget and address the shortfalls would mean "drastic -- I'm looking for a word worse than drastic -- catastrophic cuts, hurting the people who are in the most need, the elderly, the lower income, the severely handicapped and mentally ill.
"At this point, not everybody is on the same page as to the method we're going to use."
He said some want to do it all with an income tax, and some want to do it with a tobacco tax, "and most of those people don't want the other option."
There will be an effort to draft a compromise that will include an income tax surcharge and a tobacco tax, according to Ferguson.
"We're not talking about cutting the fat," he said. "We're talking about cutting the jugular vein."
Ferguson also said he realizes that some lawmakers are nervous about new taxes now, because there will be other special sessions this year.
"We have to come back in June, to address all the other bills," he said, "then come back in September and address education reform. And those are just the two special sessions we know about now. It's a tough year to be a legislator."
The Arkansas Constitution prohibits deficit spending, and Ferguson said that can cause problems when the Legislature meets only once every two years, faced with passing budgets based on projections two years into the future.
"If something happens, like the economy taking a nose dive, then sales tax, corporate income tax and personal income tax, which have been running at a predictable level, also take a nose dive," he said. "And you're forced to make cuts in programs you approved two years ago. And the only way we can prevent those cuts from continuing is to raise revenues."
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The St. Francis County Community Foundation has moved into a new home, upstairs in the St. Francis County Museum.
The foundation had been headquartered on Cook Street.
According to Pat Flanagin, board chairman, the museum "seemed like a natural. For one thing, the museum had the space available. And two, the museum is one of the charities we are establishing a fund for."
A fund honoring Gazzola Vaccaro has been established as an endowment for the museum.
"When Gazzola was county judge, the museum was one of his big projects," said Sonya Fletcher, executive director of the foundation, which is a subsidiary of the Arkansas Community Foundation.
"The Community Foundation supports and encourages the development of all charities in St. Francis County," Flanagin continued. "And as I said, the museum is one of those charities."
The move was made about three weeks ago.
The museum has some advantages over the old site, according to Fletcher and Flanagin. It is easy to find and also has better parking.
"And there is a nice meeting room downstairs," added Flanagin. "And also, with our county museum being a small museum, it doesn't have an extra large staff. And our community foundation has a staff member. So there's somebody here to open the door when Laura (Mazzanti, museum director) isn't here."
The Forrest City City Council is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 6, at city hall.
Councilmen will consider a safety manual resolution and three ordinances.
The first reading will be held on a rezoning ordinance and an ordinance to waive bid requirements for a new mower for the parks department. The third reading will be held on an ordinance authorizing inspectors to issue citations for violations of city ordinances or regulations or the fire prevention code.
Under new business, the council will hear a request to authorize the mayor to advertise for professional services for design and engineering of a pool.