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Benton County commissioners approve package of 20 budget moves, airport emergency funding and related appropriations
Summary
Benton County commissioners on March 17 approved 20 mostly technical budget resolutions moving funds across county and school accounts, appropriating grant and forfeiture proceeds to department budgets and adding emergency airport funds. Most measures passed by roll call vote with 13 Ayes, 0 No, 5 Absent.
Benton County commissioners on March 17 approved a series of 20 budget and appropriation resolutions that moved small and mid-sized amounts among school, highway, sheriff and general fund accounts and provided emergency funding for the county airport.
The package included measures to transfer $1,853 within the Highway Department to cover a worker's compensation shortfall; multiple school budget adjustments totaling tens of thousands of dollars; acceptance and budgeting of insurance recovery funds for flood damage at Briarwood School; and several actions to recognize grant, forfeiture and miscellaneous revenues for sheriff's office uses. Most motions passed on roll call votes recorded as 13 Ayes and 0 No with 5 commissioners absent.
Mayor Mark Ward also brought forward three airport items after the rules were suspended: a $5,000 appropriation to cover an airport revenue tax shortfall, $50,000 to cover aviation fuel costs and $3,000 to rent a fuel truck for the remainder of the fiscal year. The suspension of rules to add those items passed 11 Ayes, 2 No (Commissioners Kiehn and Price), with 5 absent, and all three airport resolutions were then approved by the commission.
Other actions included: budgeting $5,350 received from the City of Camden to the library budget for part‑time personnel; authorizing $1,600 from court fees to purchase a laptop for the General Sessions/Circuit Clerk; and appropriating $1,500 for debt service fees to Guardian Advisors, LLC. The sheriff's office received authorization to budget a $12,000 TLETA grant and other small revenue items. The minutes record a handful of corrections to line-item numbers for two sheriff-related resolutions that were noted after the meeting.
Several items were routine budget housekeeping directed by department leaders, the county mayor, or the director of schools. The meeting record shows unanimous or near-unanimous approval on the listed measures; when recorded, roll-call tallies are reproduced in the official minutes.
The commission recessed briefly during the meeting and later returned to complete the agenda. The commission adjourned following the votes; County Clerk Wanda Malin certified the minutes as a true and complete copy of the March 17 meeting.
