story by Ryan Saylor
rsaylor@thecitywire.com
Sebastian County Judge David Hudson hopes Tuesday's (Nov. 25) meeting of the quorum court is the last related to the upcoming 2015 budget, but at least one justice of the peace may throw a wrench in Hudson's plans.
Hudson said budget meetings held this month have resulted in a collective decision of the court to add a 2% cost of living adjustment (COLA) to the budget for all county employees, as well as deferring $528,000 in capital until February 2015. The only capital that has been included in the latest revisions to the budget include $223,000 for sheriff's department fleet vehicles.
The delays, Hudson said, include computer equipment, vehicles for other county departments, approval of the second year lease payment on golf carts at Ben Geren Regional Park and other small equipment, including mowers.
"We will reevaluate those based on year end balances," Hudson said, adding that the court had also identified about $80,000 to $96,000 in operating cuts for the budget.
"There's a lot of those we reviewed with different department heads and officials to see if cuts could have been made. It could have been utilities, a variety of things. … There was analysis of some areas where some of the operations increases could be reduced. We continue to meet with people and evaluate that."
Hudson said with the cuts and deferrals made to the budget, with revenues estimated at $21.286 million in the general fund next year, he hoped to wrap up the budget reviews before Thanksgiving.
"I'm hoping that that will be the final discussion (on Tuesday) and then work can begin on putting an exhibit together that will be adopted in ordinance on December 16," he said. "We're trying to get final discussions by Thanksgiving, but we take this to exhibit form and to ordinance for adoption, so it takes several days."
Justice of the Peace Danny Aldridge said while Hudson may be ready to wrap up discussions, he has "several things I'm wanting to talk about." The most pressing, he said, was what to do about the Sebastian County EMS service.
In the budget documents provided by Hudson's office, it is shown that the EMS budget has increased by $300,743 from 2009 to 2013. The only other department in county government to see a higher increase was the jail, whose budget increased by $1.085 million. The jail is under a consent decree from the United States Department of Justice which has necessitated much of the increase in funding.
From 2014 to 2024, the county has reallocated how it spends its portion of the countywide one cent sales tax proceeds, upping the jail's portion by 10.5%, the EMS budget by 2%, the parks department by 1% and rural fire by a half percent, while reducing capital expenditures from the sales tax proceeds by 14%. But Aldridge said the ambulance service, which serves as the only EMS provider in communities like Hackett and Lavaca, is putting a drain on the general fund.
"One of the things that we've got to face is the fact that the ambulance service in Sebastian County is creating a huge financial drain on the general fund and we're going to have to look at reducing services, getting rid of the ambulance service or changing the way in which they're operating in order to reduce that drain. It doesn't have to make money, but it's got to be not such a burden on the county general fund."
The service is pulling about $650,000 per year from the general fund and that is after county residents in service areas pay an annual fee of $18 to support the ambulance services. Another revenue source is insurance payments, though Aldridge said he is unsure how vigorously the county pursues payment from insurance following the transport of patients.
An area he said could save money is by cutting the more than $160,000 in overtime costs to staff at Sebastian County EMS.
"I content that we could hire several more people on a part-time basis and pay out less overtime. There's always some overtime, yes. … But not $160,000 plus in overtime. Maybe we can reduce that by half by hiring additional personnel. Maybe more. That would create a morale problem with (current staff) because they love this overtime they're getting. But we can't afford it. It's a terrible way to say it, but the county general fund is being held hostage by the Sebastian County ambulance service."
Aldridge said services are needed in rural Sebastian County, but he may propose going as far as privatizing the service to save the county money.
Hudson said Friday (Nov. 21) that "adjustments are still being looked at," adding that options to reduce the county's budget could still be implemented before the final ordinance is presented on Dec. 16.
The Nov. 25 meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in the Quorum Courtroom located on the second floor of the Sebastian County Courthouse in Fort Smith.