Pope County budget committee approves EMS seed fund, courthouse security shift and routine transfers

POPE COUNTY, Ark. — The Pope County budget committee on May 5 approved a set of routine transfers and appropriations, including a $75,000 one-time setup to allow Pope County EMS to participate in a state-administered Medicaid recovery program.

County Treasurer Larry Holman opened the meeting with the financial report for April 2026, saying the county collected $493,016.54 in gross sales and use tax for the general fund — 7.26% ($33,412.39) higher than April 2025 — and that year-to-date revenues stood at 110.01% of projections. "The financial report for the month of April of 2026, gross sales and use tax for the general fund for April was 493,016.54," Holman said. He also noted rebates of $69,288.77 and a recent property purchase from Arkansas Tech totaling $1,540,310.

The committee then moved through department requests. Dell Saffold of the EMS department asked for a $75,000 appropriation to establish a bank account that would serve as the county's seed for a program that recovers some of the shortfall on Medicaid calls. "We bill $1,000 on a Medicaid patient. Medicaid pays us $250. So, we're still out $750," Saffold said, describing the gap the program seeks to reduce. He explained the mechanics using an example: if the county "send[s] $10,000 out, the feds send us $17,000 back," after the state's matching formula and fees are applied. The ambulance board supports the request; the court approved the appropriation by voice vote.

The Election Commission asked to move $600 received from the state for two employees who completed poll-worker training into the county budget to reimburse those employees; Nancy Rasmussen made the request and the court approved the transfer. The Circuit Clerk's office received approval for a refund of an overpaid child-support fee.

Blake Wells, representing courthouse security, told the committee one of two full-time deputies assigned to the courthouse security checkpoint resigned. To maintain coverage without adding money to the budget, the court agreed to move the existing funds for that full-time position into a part-time employees line to hire two part-time deputies working alternating 3/2 schedules (up to about 24 hours per week) with no benefits. Wells said the two part-time hires are retired law-enforcement personnel; he said one likely new hire is Scotty Harper and that the court may introduce the new deputies at the next Quorum Court meeting. The transfer was approved by voice vote.

Emergency management also asked to move a $14,000 mitigation grant from the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management into the correct line to buy a generator for the London facility and to transfer vehicle money to outfit a recently acquired truck; both requests were approved.

Other items noted during the meeting included small court grants (for juvenile probation computer improvements and court administration) and a private audit (Landmark) of federal funds for 2024 that Holman provided for committee review. Most motions were approved by voice vote; no roll-call tallies were recorded in the transcript.

The committee adjourned after completing the listed transfers and appropriations.