Committee approves bills allowing counties to separate sheriff and tax collector offices

The City, County & Local Affairs Committee approved measures to separate the offices of sheriff and tax collector in two Arkansas counties, senators told the committee.

Senator Dave Wallace, District 19, told the committee the measure for Poinsett County "simply divides the office of the sheriff and the tax collector." Wallace said the change was requested by Poinsett County government and that similar arrangements exist in other Arkansas counties.

A second, similar bill to separate the sheriff and tax-collector roles in Searcy County was presented to the committee. A presenter for the Searcy County measure described it as a straightforward separation that followed a county resolution supporting the change and said several counties in Arkansas have already adopted the same structure.

Committee members moved and seconded motions of "do pass" for each measure and voiced approval; both measures were recorded as passing in committee. When the Poinsett County bill was discussed, Representative Dwight Tosh briefly assisted with procedure before the presentation. After the second bill's vote, the chair congratulated the senator whose bill had passed.

The bills, as explained in committee, remove the combined duty of serving as both sheriff and tax collector in the affected counties; presenters said the sheriff previously had the tax-collection responsibility in those counties but that most Arkansas counties do not combine the offices. No expansion of duties beyond separating the offices was discussed in committee.

Votes at the meeting were taken by voice; the committee recorded the outcome of both measures as passed. The transcript does not list individual roll-call tallies or the names of members who moved and seconded each motion.