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County Lines Magazine


County Lines is the official publication of the Association of Arkansas Counties. It is published quarterly. For advertising inqui- ries, subscriptions or other information re- lating to the magazine, please contact Scott Perkins at 501.372.7550.


Executive Director / Executive Editor Chris Villines


Managing Editor Scott Perkins


AAC Executive Board: Mike Jacobs – President


Roger Haney – Vice President


Judy Beth Hutcherson – Secretary-Treasurer Sherry Bell Sue Liles


Rhonda Wharton John Montgomery Faron Ledbetter David Thompson Will Jones


Debra Buckner Bear Chaney Jimmy Hart


Patrick Moore Joe Gillenwater Marty Moss Debbie Wise


National Association of Counties (NACo) Board Affiliations


Alvin Black: Public Lands Steering Committee. He is the Montgomery County Judge.


Roger Haney: Board of Directors. He is the Wash- ington County Treasurer and is also on the Telecom- munications & Technology Steering Committee.


Ted Harden: Finance & Intergovernmental Affairs Steering Committee. He serves on the Jefferson County Quorum Court.


Haze Hudson: Transportation Steering Committee. He serves on the Miller County Quorum Court.


David Hudson: Vice Chair of NACo’s Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee. He is the Sebastian County Judge and member of the Rural Action Caucus Steering Committee.


Mike Jacobs: NACo Board of Directors, the Mem- bership Committee and the Agricultural & Rural Affairs Steering Committee. He is the Johnson County Judge.


COUNTY LINES, FALL 2013


County funding at critical point


committees trying to determine which jobs can be salvaged. For others they find prudent past budgeting has put their county in a position of growth and just enough increased funding to keep the wheels of progress churning.


P


Unfortunately this year I seem to be hearing more cases relat- ing to the former instead of the latter. Cuts from the tops of our government mountain seem to be rolling downhill at an escalat- ing rate, and for many of our counties, especially rural ones, we are finding that the plodding this year is tougher than before.


Chris Villines AAC


Executive Director


It is times like these that we must remember the big picture of what we do and how we can expect to do it. Counties are models of efficiency – but we can only be efficient to a point. Revenues are directly correlated to the level of service we can provide. Unfortunately this may mean that cut revenues in the forms of decreased or stagnant taxes usually mean fewer posi- tions, longer lines, inability to keep up with technology and unsafe streets and jails.


It is wise to take a close (and pedestrian) look at the revenue your county receives in order to get a better understanding of why things seem to be tightening up. Tere are basically two divisions of county government…the road department and the rest. Following the ½ cent election it looks like our road budgets seem to be somewhat less of a problem for the fore- seeable future. Instead it seems to be our county general budgets that fund all other county services that are taking a hit.


In general we point to three things that largely fund our county services: property and sales tax, state general turnback, and state and federal grants and programs. Tere are other fund- ing mechanisms that help but by and large these three components are the major sources of county revenue.


We have little control over state and federal grants. Tese are very helpful when they come, but they usually allow for one-time capital improvements or short-term salaried positions within county government that eventually turn into a long-term operation which we will be responsible to fund. In addition the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) funding and Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILT) funding are a fair way for the federal government to reimburse counties for more than 3 million acres of Arkansas land that the federal government has taken out of cir- culation for the national parks and other purposes. Te logic is that this would all be revenue producing land were the federal government not the owner – and this land would alternatively be beneficial to all taxing units.


For our rural counties that rely on SRS and PILT funding we continue to fight valiantly to keep funding at similar levels. It is only right that the federal government take care of the counties and schools in these areas and NACo is the tip of the spear in this fight. Sadly, we find grant money drying up and SRS and PILT to be stagnant at best.


Tere are funding sources that we control locally…well, to a point anyway. Te property tax millage and sales taxes we receive make up the largest portion of many of our budgets. Sales taxes which had been stagnant during the economic downturn have begun to creep back up and all but two of our counties rely on this revenue…some have even bargained with the public to lower millage rates in return for electorate approved general or dedicated sales taxes. Te general sales taxes must be split based on census numbers with cities based on the population distribution (not necessarily true of dedicated sales taxes). Te other half of tax


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robably the most serious thing we all do as county officials happens in the fall of the year. For some it evokes images of pulling hair out, wailing and gnashing of teeth, and long hours spent before


Director’s Desk


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