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Votes at a glance: Benton County approves multiple budget changes, budgets jail oven purchase; mayor overtime amendment fails
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Summary
At the Aug. 15 meeting the Benton County Board of Commissioners approved a series of budget amendments and transfers — including a $6,135 mineral severance tax correction, a $9,984 jail oven purchase from litigation tax reserves and several school and library budget adjustments — while a proposed $9,000 mayoral overtime appropriation failed and a three-year security maintenance contract was pulled for price review.
The Benton County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 15 approved a slate of budget adjustments, transfers and appropriations and handled several procurement and administrative items during a meeting at the Benton County Courthouse.
Key approvals included a $6,135 increase in the Highway Department’s mineral severance tax revenue line to a projected $163,635 for FY22-23 (Resolution 20220815-01); budgeting a $923.08 salary supplement for Deputy Chris Hatley paid by the 24th Judicial Drug Task Force (20220815-02); budgeting $4,302.66 in July sheriff revenues into vehicle and towing accounts (20220815-03); and adding a $4,500 City of Camden contribution to the Benton County Library budget for part-time personnel (20220815-04). The commission also approved a $12 interest allocation from an Ona W. Florence will to Project Help (20220815-05).
Education-related actions included line-item adjustments to allocate Pre-K state funds and transfers within the school budget (Resolutions 20220815-06 and 20220815-07). The board corrected a typographical error in Juvenile/Youth Services by transferring $50 to the Juvenile Court Youth Service Officer line (20220815-08). A correction to a prior appropriation for data processing equipment was approved (20220815-11), and remaining SPARC grant funds totaling $12,125.95 were appropriated to vocational education equipment (20220815-12; roll call 11 yes, 0 no, 1 abstain).
The commission approved an emergency purchase of a double oven for the county jail, appropriating $9,984.21 from the Jail/Workhouse/Courthouse Litigation Tax Reserve for the replacement (20220815-09). A separate proposed three-year maintenance and support contract from Stanley Security, estimated at $2,050 per month ($24,600 total), was pulled at the sheriff’s request for further price negotiation and was not approved (20220815-10 pulled).
A proposed appropriation of $9,000 from the Unassigned Fund Balance to cover overtime in the County Mayor’s budget (Resolution 20220815-13) failed after an attempted amendment to lower the amount to $700 did not meet the required 2/3 threshold; the final roll-call vote recorded 1 yes, 11 no. The board did approve setting aside $24,841.85 in a committed reserve for Benton County Senior Citizens donations and fundraisers (20220815-14) and appointed three county notaries.
Motions were moved and seconded by commissioners on the floor (for example, motions to approve the agenda and to approve individual resolutions were repeatedly moved by Commissioner Darrel Hicks and seconded by Commissioner Stephen Stokes or by other named commissioners), and most budget items passed on roll-call votes recorded in the minutes. The meeting adjourned after the board postponed further action on a contract to distribute local option sales tax pending additional review.
Votes and recorded outcomes summarized in the official minutes: most resolutions passed with roll-call tallies of 12 yes and 6 absent unless noted otherwise; Resolution 20220815-12 carried 11 yes with 1 abstention (Mike Nunnery) and Resolution 20220815-13 failed on final roll call (1 yes, 11 no).