The Budget and Finance Committee of the Jefferson County Quorum Court voted Tuesday night to table an ordinance approving the 2026 county budget, following a contentious debate over cuts to the sheriff’s department and questions about the budget review process.
The move came after several justices of the peace raised concerns, including a lack of opportunity to review the complete departmental budget submissions and what they said were significant discrepancies in the figures presented. The key point of contention centered on the budget for the sheriff’s department, specifically the proposed exclusion of the Group Violence Intervention program.
“I see there have been quite a few cuts to the sheriff’s department, including exiting out the GVI program,” noted Justice of the Peace Reginald Johnson, later clarifying, “Group Violence Intervention, and it was proposing it’s been cut out.”
Another justice of the peace questioned the overall review process, claiming they had heard that some people were asked to view the budget, but they had not received any such calls and didn’t have a copy of the budget to review.
Jefferson County Judge Gerald Robinson explained that the confusion stemmed from incorrect summary sheets included in the original budget books.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“The only thing I’m telling you is that we transposed the numbers that were from the budgets that were presented to the incorrect sheet. So the calculations on this sheet were incorrect,” he stated. “So the numbers that will be contained within the book … were different from that back sheet. So the only thing we did was correct and place … the numbers that each department presented.” This explanation, however, failed to quell concerns over substantial drops in some departmental budgets, including the sheriff’s, which was cited as moving from an original $6 million to about $5.45 million.
Faced with a mounting dispute, a motion was put forth to table the budget approval. The committee ultimately voted to table the budget until a special meeting can be called for a thorough review.
In other business, the committee rapidly approved the “due pass” recommendation for 18 other appropriation and fund transfer ordinances that the Human Resource and Judicial committees had previously reviewed. These items passed with minimal discussion, moving them forward to the full Quorum Court. Robinson ended the committee meeting by noting that a special meeting would be organized for the justices of the peace to discuss the budget, and confirmed that the ordinance approving the budget would still appear for its third reading on the regular Quorum Court meeting on Monday night.