A proposal to transfer money in the budget of Jefferson County District Court will have to be dealt with next week after a committee of the Jefferson County Quorum Court couldn’t agree to it.
Because two members of the court’s Judiciary Committee were absent during Tuesday’s meeting, only Justices of the Peace Edward Spears, Alfred Carroll and Chairman Ted Harden could discuss the proposal, which came from District Judge Kim Bridgforth.
Bridgforth asked that $9,900 be moved from the Administration of Justice (AOJ) fund to cover a part-time employee who was put on full time to handle additional duties the court has acquired this year. Bridgforth said no county general money would be needed to cover the request.
Spears made a motion that the request be sent to the Finance Committee with a “do pass” but Carroll refused to second the motion, despite statements from several other members of the county’s legislative body supporting the request.
“This is money that’s already in her department, let her spend it the way she needs to spend it,” Justice of the Peace Mandy Alford said.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Justice Dr. Herman Ginger, who chaired the Finance Committee in the absence of Justice Vannette Johnson, said he had talked to Bridgforth about the request and saw no problem with it.
“This is just taking care of an employee who went from part time to full time to take care of the extra load the court has now,” Ginger said.
In addition to Johnson, Justice of the Peace the Rev. H.O. Gray was absent Tuesday night.
Carroll’s complaint was that the $9,900 requested by Bridgforth amounted to a “lump sum” raise, an issue he has brought up before.
Ginger said the money would not be a raise, but simply what was needed to reflect the change from part time to full time, and Alford said it would be to “cover the additional responsibilities the employee had.”
Despite that, and the fact that the AOJ money could only be spent on the court, Carroll would not second the motion, leading Harden to table it until next Monday when a joint meeting of the Finance and Judicial Committees will be held, beginning at 5:20 p.m.
County Judge Mike Holcomb promised to have Bridgforth at the meeting to answer questions about the request.
Carroll also questioned a request from the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to move money around within the office, but eventually agreed to the proposed appropriation, which was also recommended for approval by the Finance Committee.
Prosecuting Attorney S. Kyle Hunter said that because of a change in the Victim-Witness Division of his office, he was able to reorganize that office and free up money which he wanted to use in a different way.
Hunter said Christa Menotti and Denice Howard were co-coordinators of the office until Menotti resigned recently to accept another job, allowing him to do the reorganization.
“We had two supervisors in a four person office and that’s too many supervisors,” Hunter said.
By hiring another person at a lower salary than Menotti received, Hunter said he was able to save $6,193 plus benefits annually, and wanted to use some of that money to change the salaries and job titles of two assistant case coordinators, bringing them up to the salaries of three other case coordinators already in place.
“The assistant case coordinators are doing the same jobs as the case coordinators are doing,” Hunter said. “They have the same responsibilities, just get paid less.”
Hunter said no money from county general would be needed to make the changes, which according to a letter to Harden, would be retroactive to April 1. The letter said $2,811 would be needed to change the salaries of the two coordinators, plus benefits.
“Basically, you’ve got people working in positions above their grade,” Harden said.
In other business Tuesday, committees of the court recommended that the following items be sent to the full court with do pass recommendations. The full court meets next Monday at 5:30 p.m.
• A $27,500 appropriation for the Circuit Clerk’s Office to cover the costs of recording books, file folders, and recording paper for deeds and mortgages, as well as other expenses.
• A $14,000 appropriation for the Recycling Resource Recovery Fund with the money coming from a grant the county received from the Southeast Arkansas Economic Development District. The money will be used for advertising and salary.
• A $14,000 appropriation for the Assessor’s Office from the Assessor’s Amendment 79 fund with the money being used to buy Image Viewer software and scanners.
• A $224,874.78 appropriation for the Jefferson County Road Department with the money coming from various county agencies and departments using the county fuel system and service center.
• A resolution reappointing David Boast to a five-year term on the Jefferson County Equalization Board, beginning June 1 and ending May 31, 2015.