Comptroller Paul Sherman briefs Washington County quorum court on budget timeline, step plan and tighter controls

Comptroller Paul Sherman told the Washington County quorum court on Monday that the county has sent budget request spreadsheets to departments and expects them back by the 15th, after which staff will negotiate requests and produce a draft budget for the court to review.

Sherman said the county will use a series of scheduled briefings — including a Sept. 8 meeting to hear major departments — to explain departmental requests, and that budget voting could begin as early as Oct. 6. "We've already sent out the spreadsheets to all the departments. They're working on them now. Our deadline to be back to us is the 15th," Sherman said.

Why it matters: the briefing doubles as a training session Sherman wants new justices of the peace and departmental "resource managers" to attend so they better understand how appropriations, personnel costs and transfers work. That matters because routine choices about fills, promotions, or transfers between line items can change whether the county must return to the quorum court to re-appropriate funds.

Sherman reviewed budget line-series and key policy levers: 1000-series personnel costs, 2000-series supplies, 3000-series professional services, 4000-series capital and 5000-series debt service. He urged the court to focus on three budget priorities—building infrastructure, technology upgrades and labor costs—and described plans to tighten appropriations by using "unfunded requirements" (not budgeting positions that historically remain vacant) to reduce overappropriation.

On personnel costs, Sherman outlined payroll tax and retirement arrangements. He said FICA withholding is "7.65%" and described additional employer payroll contributions as part of the total cost of employment. Sherman also described the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System (APERS), saying employees contribute roughly 6.25% of pay and the county contributes about 15.2%, and explained that after five years employees become eligible for an annuity based on their high-three salary.

Health insurance and budgeting: Sherman said the county budgets about $12,000 a year for each employee who elects county health coverage and that the county is self-insured; premiums are deducted from payroll, held in a county-managed account and accounted for in department budgets.

Step pay plan and debate: Sherman defended keeping a single countywide step plan—five percent increases by step—with anniversary dates used to move employees through steps. He acknowledged concerns voiced by several JPs about workers who lost ground when the system began and about employees who have reached step 10 and no longer receive step increases. "We should not scrap this step plan… we should modify it," Sherman said, but he urged the court to preserve a consistent county plan rather than revert to multiple plans. JPs pressed for options such as changing the step cadence, adding a COLA, or creating limited exceptions for extraordinary hires.

Budget controls and transfers: Sherman described the existing ordinance-based controls that allow departments to move funds within a series (for example, within the 1000 personnel series) but limit moves into or out of personnel accounts without court approval. Transfers into capital (4000 series) are capped at $20,000 total per year unless the court approves otherwise, and similar caps apply across other series to prevent gaming of appropriations while allowing operational flexibility for emergencies.

Other details Sherman highlighted: the county's principal debt related to a Johnson Controls contract (he said roughly $6 million remained), a new fuel island to centralize departmental fueling, consolidation of copier contracts and an ongoing effort to track fixed assets (vehicles, servers and other capital) through a Buildings & Grounds fixed-asset manager.

On reserves and ARPA: Sherman said the treasurer's carryover and projected revenue feed the master budget spreadsheet and that state law requires holding back 10% as a reserve; he described the unappropriated reserve as the pool departments can draw on during the year (he said last year it was about $1.9 million). Sherman also said interest earned on reserves and ARPA balances is returned to county general and is not restricted for ARPA-only uses.

Next steps: finance and HR staff will brief the finance committee with more detailed FTE and cost information; Sherman said the training will be recorded and posted for resource managers and that departments can submit advance questions to be answered before scheduled briefings. The meeting concluded with a 12-minute citizen-comment period during which no members of the public spoke.

Quotes used in this report are drawn directly from the briefing and are attributed to the speakers who made them.