Budget committee approves amended 2026 budgets, keeps $1M capital transfer for jail project and schedules midyear reviews

The Faulkner County Budget & Finance Committee passed a package of 2026 budget items with amendments and asked staff to monitor revenue projections and revisit several funds in March. Chair reviewed the county's total projected revenue of about $16,212,000 against budget requests totaling roughly $16,443,000 and explained recurring and one‑time adjustments to balance the books.

"We take into account... $190,000 in capital improvements purchasing, and an additional $100,000 or more in elections," the Chair said when walking committee members through the projection sheet. The Chair noted the court has historically transferred roughly $1 million annually into the capital improvement fund, a practice that has underwritten large projects; he cited the county's plan to build a $20 million Criminal Justice facility without raising taxes.

Committee members agreed to a 3% cost‑of‑living adjustment included across the budgets under review. The committee also received an update on the jail project: staff reported bid openings occurred and a bid tab expected early next week, with an aspiration for groundbreaking before year‑end. The planned facility is designed for 256 beds and will replace Unit 1 (designed for 218 but often holding ~200); staff said the new design aims to increase capacity by roughly 50% without increasing headcount by relying on more efficient operations.

On special revenue funds, the committee handled several routine and amended appropriations: county recorder fund (3006.0120) was adjusted after Miss Easton reported $48,822.29 in cuts; extension office and passport acceptance fees were reorganized into a separate fund with small line‑item amendments; county library, emergency management and the emergency squad budgets were also approved with technical amendments. The county clerk reported a projection correction related to passport acceptance facility fees and moved to reduce postage to stay within the revised projection.

District court probation fees (3027.0408) received extended attention. Staff explained the fund's revenue comes from probationer fees and projected available appropriation was roughly $68,000 against a larger budget request. Committee members explored cutting travel and other line items to preserve essential probation officer positions, acknowledged that probation fees are unlikely to fully fund operations, and approved several small reductions while scheduling a formal midyear carryover reconciliation in March when actual carryover figures will be known.

Throughout the meeting the committee emphasized procedural caution: personnel changes tied to budget adjustments should be processed through the personnel committee and quorum court and the court will review actual carryovers in March before making additional changes. The committee voted to present the amended 2026 budget to the full Quorum Court on Tuesday night along with the regular appropriation ordinance and then adjourned.