County leaders speak out over failed budget

Elected officials for Jefferson County departments and other leaders addressed the consequences of a missed county budget during a news conference Wednesday morning at the office of Sheriff Lafayette Woods Jr.

The officials pinned the problem on County Judge Gerald Robinson and six justices of the peace who often support his decisions during Quorum Court meetings. The 13-member Quorum Court, the county’s governing body, failed to pass a $34.3 million budget Robinson suggested during a 5-hour Monday night meeting, resulting in county workers not being paid as scheduled Wednesday.

The Quorum Court was to meet again Wednesday evening in hopes of passing a budget. Woods said Robinson vetoed a budget that was already passed.

“This budget, that is carefully crafted and met all legal requirements under the law … was fiscally sound, fiscally sustainable and supported by every revenue projection by the county treasurer,” Woods said. “Despite this, Judge Robinson chose to veto that budget and promote an arbitrary and politically motivated budget that disproportionately targets other sheriff’s offices and essential departments of county government, with the exception of those directly under his purview. Let me be very clear: Failure to issue payroll for county employees, as well as propose an elimination of critical positions and drastic budget cuts rest squarely – squarely – at the hands and feet of the county judge. Make no mistake about that.

“These actions are not only unnecessary but reckless and vindictive, jeopardizing public safety and essential services across county government.”

Woods accused Robinson of making decisions in an indecent, immoral and unlawful manner, although he did not specify which decisions were such. A special judge last month handed down a verdict in Robinson’s favor after the county judge sued the entire Quorum Court for operating without an active ordinance on rules of procedure.

Seven justices of the peace – Reginald Adams, Alfred Carroll, Melanie Dumas, Brenda Bishop Gaddy, Cedric Jackson, Reginald Johnson and Margarette Williams – voted against Robinson’s budget proposal, which calls for cuts to jailers’ salaries from $40,000 to $35,000 and the elimination of six positions, three of which are connected to the county jail, The Commercial reported Tuesday.

“Judge Robinson, over the past six years, has done nothing but cut budgets to increase his own budget,” former District 5 Justice of the Peace Lloyd Franklin II said, adding Robinson’s proposed budget in 2019 – his first year in office – was about $487,000.

For the 2025 budget, Robinson proposed $1,693,807 for his office as part of an $11,958,456 total in general funds. The remainder of his proposal is miscellaneous funds. Benton and Washington counties have judge’s budgets of less than half of what Robinson proposed, Franklin said.

This marks the second time in less than a year that county workers have missed payment as scheduled. A dispute over a court order Robinson filed to withhold pay for former and present county assessors, claiming a nepotism violation and excessive hours, led to workers taking off from work last May 1, ended when Robinson approved the payroll before noon that day.

“My employees are suffering. They’re upset. I’m upset,” County Clerk Shawndra Taggart said. “What they did tell me is that they stand behind me. They did come to work today and yesterday. They do stand behind me, and I thank them for that.”

Offices were open at the Jefferson County Courthouse on Wednesday, and no employees were reported to skip work due to the missed payroll. But elected department heads spoke out at Woods’ office about the possible consequences of the lack of a budget.

“I just want to assure the public that 100 percent of our workforce showed up for work, even though they’re not getting paid,” sheriff’s Maj. John Bean said. “I want to speak for their dedication to that. Our jail is manned. Our investigators are here. All of our deputies are ready to take calls for service and they even know they’re not getting paid for it.”

Bean said 56 of 139 paid personnel will take pay cuts ranging in different percentages. Of the 56 positions, six will be removed, he said, including five manned positions funded for years.

Medical services, education and meals for inmates, the juvenile justice center, voting safety and Drug Task Force would see cuts under Robinson’s budget, Bean said.

“I’m afraid for the county that it may be looking at a class-action lawsuit by parents of this community who care about their young people,” JP Carroll Sr. said. “That just scares me that these young people have made a mistake, and we’re going to add disenfranchising them and starving them to the fact they’re incarcerated. That’s a shame.”

The sheriff’s budget request, Bean added, did not call for any pay increases, leading to confusion as to why they’re being cut.

“It was hard to walk into the office today because today is payday,” Tax Collector Tony Washington said. “My folks have come to work and done a great job in the tax collector’s office, and they haven’t paid. Today is payday. I am responsible for them getting paid, but there’s another group responsible for us making sure that happens, and first of all I want to thank all those Quorum Court members who stood up and did what’s right. We were almost forced into a budget that would not allow us to operate.”

County Treasurer Vonysha Goodwin said she is the beginning phase of the budgeting process. She said she submitted revenue estimates to give elected officials an idea of how much they can budget for their offices, and those projections are presented in or about July.

“My office was affected by the cuts from the budget, mine not as bad as other departments,” Goodwin said. “Mine was only in the salary slot of the chief deputy that was being cut. I don’t agree with it, but if that’s what has to be done, I just need something to be done. We need to get budgets in place and passed.”

Without a budget, Taggart said, she can’t process payroll, pay essential bills or process garnishments.

“We’re in a really bad situation,” Taggart said. “We need a budget. We needed a budget two months ago.”

Franklin and Washington called out supporters of Robinson’s budget proposal – justices Dr. Conley Byrd, Jimmy Fisher, Ted Harden, Danny Holcomb and Patricia Royal Johnson. (Roy Agee was absent from Monday’s meeting but was also called out.)

Fisher defeated Franklin in last March’s Democratic primary, effectively unseating Franklin on Jan. 1.

Franklin called that group of justices “criminal facilitators,” rhetorically asking each one whether they were OK with laying off county employees. None of the six justices were present at the news conference.

“Essentially what these six justices are doing is that they’re defunding the police,” Franklin said. “You have defunded the sheriff’s department. You’re cutting salaries to sheriff’s deputies off. You’re defunding the police. No one in this community gave you the authority to do that.”

Online now: County Judge Gerald Robinson responds to the elected officials’ complaints.