By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Hopes for a $500,000 carryover for the St. Francis County general account for 2005 have been squashed with more than $300,000 in the county's final tax settlement going to balance several accounts for the end of the year.
According to St. Francis County Clerk Elizabeth Smith, the county general portion of this year's $5,768,312.56 from the final tax settlement is $619,012.81. Another $49,000 from the final tax settlement will go directly into the county road department. The tax settlement is broken down into several categories with funding going to each of the county's school districts along with East Arkansas Community College and Crowley's Ridge Technical Institute.
While justices voted on a budget earlier this month that included a $500,000 carryover, according to St. Francis County Treasurer Ann Harbin, the actual carryover may be closer to the $12,000 range after all accounts are cleared up. Last year, $233,017.43 was carried over after county general received a final tax settlement of $591,508.73. More than $419,000 in funding was used to balance 2003 accounts.
According to Harbin, the county general account had a balance of $538,794 Wednesday. Once transfers are made to balance accounts, the general account will have close to $212,000, according Harbin.
An ordinance adopted earlier this year calls for the county's trust account to have a balance of $471,944.59 to start the new year. That balance matches the balance for the beginning of 2004. According to Harbin, in order to satisfy the ordinance, a transfer of $266,366.56 would be necessary.
"What I'm going to do in order to partially satisfy the ordinance is transfer $200,000 over to trust leaving the remaining $12,000 in county general to be carried over," Harbin said.
St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco said this morning that the news forecasts a tight year for the county, but he also said that it is something justices and elected officials have dealt with before.
"It's probably going to be an extremely tight year budget wise, but we've worked with tight budgets before. We're going to have to make some hard decisions and some cuts may have to be made. We're going to have an organizational meeting on Monday night, and from there, we'll begin the process of working on this," Cisco said.
Quorum Court Justice Regan Hill, who questioned the anticipated $500,000 carryover over the past few months, agreed with Cisco that considerable work would be necessary on the budget.
"A month and a half ago I made the comment that I did not understand why we would have a $500,000 carryover this year when we haven't had that type of carryover in the past four or five years. Now, we're facing numbers that are considerably less than what we agreed upon on the budget, and we're going to have to go back to the table and work on this budget because we're going to have to make cuts in areas. The most logical thing for us to do right now is take the figures we know we have and work up a budget for the year," Hill said.
The organizational meeting will be held on Monday, Dec. 3,
at 6 p.m. in the Quorum Court room at the St. Francis County Courthouse.
Forrest City Grocery Company and the Cohn family have set up a relief fund for victims of the recent tsunami in Asia.
"We, just like everybody else, feel great sympathy for the people in that part of the world. It's the worst disaster I've ever seen or heard of," David Cohn said. "We're going to create, through our customers and our vendors of Forrest City Grocery Company, a fund, and we'll be seeking donations to buy food to send over there."
The fund, called the Tsunami Earthquake Relief Fund, has been established at First National Bank of Eastern Arkansas, and donations may be made at any branch.
"We're just appealing to any and all citizens in the area who want to make a donation to help us with this relief effort," said Cohn.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
It has been an up and down year, but Forrest City Mayor Larry Bryant said Wednesday it has mostly been good.
"First thing, it's good to be alive," he said. "I had some heart problems and had a stent put in and some other things. I'm doing better and I've also lost a little weight." His wife is also battling cancer.
"As far as the city is concerned, I guess a high point would be the bypass opening," he continued. "We've also had more housing starts in the last quarter than we've had for a while."
He said the opening of the latest phase of the federal prison -- a medium security facility -- was positive.
There has also been a lot of work done on the city parks. Bryant said the extended walking track at the Municipal Sports Complex is one example.
"A lot of people are enjoying that. It was a situation where we partnered with the Enterprise Community, and they gave us $20,000 towards that end. And it's available for people from all over the county."
He said all the parks have had some upgrading, including remodeling of the swimming pool and the installation of backstops at South Side Park, new pavilions at the complex and possibly a new pavilion at Stuart Springs Park.
He admitted that during the recent ice storm, the Public Works Department had problems, but he said the workers did the best they could with what they had.
"We weren't prepared for ice. We were prepared for snow," Bryant said. "You just can't scrape ice."
The fire department has a lot of new equipment, including county homeland security equipment.
"And we're looking, hopefully, next year on starting on our fire substation on the bypass," he said. "If all the "i's" are dotted, we can have a building built before the end of next year."
He said the police department is doing what it can to alleviate some staffing problems. He added a hope that citizens will help in crime prevention.
"I wish I could say we were crime free," he said. "But, we do our best to try to make the community better. And we hope and pray our citizens will be a little more proactive in terms of when they see something, to call in. The best kind of crime control is the people who live in the community."
Bryant also said he hopes to upgrade tennis courts around town.
"I want all our parks to be up to 100 percent, so our citizens will have places to go for entertainment, within the confines of the City of Forrest City," he said.
Bryant also said he is hoping to have a multi-purpose building constructed before the end of the year. This has been a controversial subject within the city council, but Bryant said he remains confident.
"Yes, I'm confident. Some will say this and some will say that...But I'm fairly confident, unless the new city council members come along and they say no somewhere down the line," he said.
There will be two new council members in January. Chris Oswalt will replace John Gadberry and Henry Peacock will replace Roy Hancock.
Bryant also addressed a request for a water rate increase.
"I don't like a rate increase, any more than anyone else...The mayor has to pay the same water rate increase as anybody else. Whatever the law is, I have to abide by it, too. If it costs you money, it costs me money," he said. "The mayor drives on the ice, too. The mayor lives here and breathes Forrest City just like everybody else."
He said he hoped the recently-announced hiring of David Dunn as executive director of the Forrest City Area Chamber of Commerce will usher in a time of cooperation.
"I hope all of us will be working on the same page, trying to draw industry into Forrest City," he said, adding that many out-of-work people are looking for jobs with the city, and there aren't enough job openings to accommodate them.
"I would like for us to be practical in our efforts, an
not get bogged down in personal things, rather than things that
will be beneficial and helpful to the city," Bryant said.
"I hope everyone will start looking out for what is best
for the city and the best means to get there."
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Local law enforcement officers are gearing up for one of the busiest and most dangerous holidays of the year as New Year's Eve and New Year's Day approach this weekend.
According to Lt. Tommy Wicker with the Arkansas State Police, during the holiday period, which begins on Friday, Dec. 31, at 6 p.m. and ends on Sunday, Jan. 2, at midnight, drivers can expect to see sobriety checkpoints set up in the eight-county area covered by Arkansas State Police Troop D.
"We always encourage our troopers to set up sobriety checkpoints, and this weekend won't be any different. We don't have anything scheduled right now, but our sergeants are putting something together for the weekend if we have the manpower. I'm sure some of the troopers will set up checkpoints across the troop to make sure that everyone is having a safe holiday weekend," Wicker said.
Law enforcement agencies across Arkansas are preparing to set up sobriety checkpoints and increase patrols to help keep drunken drivers off the roads during the holiday period.
According to an Associated Press story, Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said $1.3 million has been given in grants to cities and counties to pay for overtime for extra patrols. Another $1.1 million in grants went to state police troops across the state.
State police operating in central Arkansas plan at least five sobriety checkpoints in Lonoke, Faulkner, Saline and Pulaski counties, state police Lt. Sedrick Reed said.
A person registering a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent or higher is considered intoxicated under Arkansas law.
While ASP troopers will be out patrolling, according to an official with the Forrest City Police Department no special patrols have been planned in the city.
St. Francis County Sheriff Dave Parkman said that his department has no plans for checkpoints, but that doesn't necessarily mean there won't be any. "We're not planning on having any sobriety checkpoints or road blocks, and any checkpoints we put up will be spontaneous," Parkman said.
Parkman also said the Sheriff's Department will continue a program that has been in use for several years. People who have had too much to drink can call the department, Friday only, at 633-2611 and request a ride home.
"I'd rather have people calling us and asking for a little
help than having to go out and work accidents that could have
been prevented," Parkman said.
With the New Year's Day holiday falling on a Saturday, city and county offices will be closed on Friday, along with the Times-Herald.
The Times-Herald will not be published on Friday. The Times-Herald offices will reopen at 8 a.m. on Monday.
Both the Forrest City City Hall and the St. Francis County Courthouse will be closed on Friday, Dec. 31. Normal business hours will resume on Monday, Jan. 3, for both the city and county offices.
Area students from kindergarten to college will be heading back to class on Monday to resume their studies following Christmas break.
Students in the Forrest City, Palestine-Wheatley and Hughes school districts will resume their regular schedule of classes on Monday, Jan. 3. Those who attend Calvary Christian Schools, Inc. will also return on Monday.
Crowley's Ridge Technical Institute students will return to classes on Monday morning. Students at East Arkansas Community College will return to classes on Jan. 10.
The Veteran Service Office, located in the St. Francis County Courthouse, will observe special hours next week.
The office will be open from Tuesday, Jan. 4, through Friday, Jan. 7. The hours will be from 8 a.m. until noon and from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m.
According to Veteran Service Officer Henry Haven, the reason for the change is to accommodate those eligible veterans and widows who wish to file early for their 2004 medical expenses.
After next week, the office will go back to its regular times and days -- Tuesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. until noon and 1 p.m. until 4:30 p.m.
The newest slate of elected officials and officials re-elected to positions in St. Francis County will be sworn in during a ceremony Saturday.
According to officials with St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco's office, the ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. on New Year's Day in the Circuit Courtroom at the St. Francis County Courthouse. Circuit Judge Ben Story will preside over the ceremony.
Officials with the City of Forrest City did not know of plans for a similar ceremony for newly and re-elected city officials.
The Forrest City City Council will meet in a special budget session at 5 p.m. today at city hall.
The meeting is open to the public.