Jefferson County Judge Gerald Robinson on Wednesday held firm to his stance on the Quorum Court’s mission to pass a budget for 2025.
Speaking in his office at the Courthouse, Robinson addressed allegations from elected officials and other county leaders in an earlier news conference that his failure to approve a $34.3 million budget resulted in a missed payroll for hundreds of county workers. It’s the second time in less than a year county workers have missed payroll as scheduled over differences between Robinson and other elected officials on budget and payroll matters.
“The essence of, ‘The county judge is stopping payroll,’ ‘The county judge is stopping the budget,’ that is an absolute lie,” Robinson said. “In my duties as county judge, I preside over the Quorum Court, but I don’t have a vote. I do have the power to veto. I don’t vote on the budget, but I do present it. It’s presented to the Quorum Court, and they do vote on it for passage.
“So, regardless of all these press conferences that the sheriff, the tax collector, the county clerk, the treasurer and everybody else who has gotten together to paint this judge as a dictator – they really don’t know what a dictator is – look it up; it’s a person of absolute power,” Robinson continued. “If I had absolute power, some of them would not be in office, I promise you.”
The news conference was held at Sheriff Lafayette Woods Jr.’s office. Sheriff’s Maj. John Bean spoke to the loss of jobs and cuts in salaries for others without a budget in place, while County Clerk Shawndra Taggart said the lack of a budget in her computer system prevented payment.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Robinson’s proposed budget also failed in Wednesday’s Quorum Court meeting. The judge has said he is seeking guidance on an executive order to make sure essential workers such as members of law enforcement, jailers and first responders with the Metropolitan Emergency Communication Association will be paid as soon as possible.
Former Justice of the Peace Lloyd Franklin II called out Robinson for proposing $1,693,807 for his office in the 2025 budget, an increase by more than $117,000 from 2024 and more than three times what his office was budgeted for in 2019, his first year as county judge. The sheriff’s office would be budgeted for $2,399,011 this year, a drop from $2,572,356 in 2024, under Robinson’s plan.
Robinson’s total county budget proposal, however, is $2.3 million less than in 2024.
Robinson referred to a ruling handed down Dec. 26 from Special Judge Randy Wright in the Second Division of 11th West Circuit Court that the Quorum Court operated illegally without rules of procedure in place. Robinson highlighted Ordinance 2024-20 purportedly passed by a majority of the Quorum Court last year that sought to authorize him to approve supplemental appropriations to Fund 1000 ($66,729) and Funds 1819, 3000 and 3001 ($16,682 each).
The ordinance, purportedly retroactive to Jan. 1, 2024, would have authorized Robinson to increase the salary of each chief deputy position for county clerk, circuit clerk, treasurer, tax collector, assessor, prosecuting attorney and district court from $63,965 to $77,531. In addition, the sheriff’s office manager, juvenile detention administrator and detention facility administrator would have seen their salaries increased to $80,000.
As later found in his favor in the case against the Quorum Court, Ordinance 2024-20 was not properly passed because it was not passed by the Quorum Court during a meeting “as it was supposedly passed by certain members of the Quorum Court after the Quorum Court meeting had adjourned and other Justices of the Peace and the County Judge had left,” Robinson wrote in a memo to reduce the payroll affidavit by $49,416 on May 28. Robinson also stated the purported ordinance was not presented to him for approval or veto, as required by state law.
“There are issues with this budget because we have elected officials and justices of the peace who are connected and friends, either by growing up together, high school, college buddies – all those things trying to take care of a few people who they’re giving illegal raises to, without going through the proper procedures, and I as the county judge have to make sure we pass legal budgets,” Robinson said. “We have to ensure that raises are legal and have gone through the proper process, and they haven’t done that.”
Robinson also pointed to improving the county’s financial footing, elevating raises of elected officials from $68,750 to $98,900 and offering bonuses in most years under his leadership.
“Certain Quorum Court members want me to approve or bring a budget forward that is full of illegal things to do, and I in good conscience can’t do that. They’re trying to take care of their friends, but my concern isn’t the 12 or 13 friends you’ve given illegal raises to, these elected officials have given $20,000 raises to. My concern is for all of Jefferson County because I promise you the 387 employees wish they could have gotten a 15- to 20-thousand-dollar raise, too.”
The budget that seven of the 13 justices of the peace who comprise the Quorum Court was not even presented to Robinson to give him a chance to veto, Robinson said.
“A budget was passed through the proper channels, through the Budget and Finance Committee, and moved to the full Quorum Court for passage,” he said. “We amend budgets all year long, which is called supplemental appropriations – in essence, changes of budget. It’s a working document.”
A Quorum Court meeting was to be held Wednesday night in an attempt to approve a 2025 budget. Asked about any possible compromises to reach a consensus, Robinson said he wouldn’t compromise anything when it comes to the law, which he says states the Quorum Court – not the judge – is to pass a budget.
If Robinson had the power to make sure county employees are paid without the justices, he said, he would make it happen.
“There is not a county judge in this state that does not have a Quorum Court member or two who thinks they’re the county judge, who thinks they have more authority than the county judge, and this is what you have in Jefferson County,” Robinson said. “It’s dysfunctional, it’s personal and they need to get over it and take care of the business of the county.”