By Ray King
During a meeting that lasted less than 20 minutes Tuesday night, committees of the Jefferson County Quorum Court recommended approval of appropriation ordinances to help volunteer fire departments and help pay for construction of the new Jefferson County Health Department.
Also recommended for approval was an appropriation ordinance that will allow the County Tax Collector to raise the salary of his chief deputy using money from the Tax Collector’s Automation Fund.
All the proposals will be voted on when the county’s legislative body meets Monday at 5:30 p.m. at the County Courthouse.
According to a letter from Karen Blevins, who is the coordinator of the Office of Emergency Management, $52,932.33 that was designated for rural fire departments in the fourth quarter of 2020 were not appropriated due to an oversight and an appropriation ordinance was necessary to distribute the money. Funding for rural fire departments is included in the money received from the one-cent public safety tax approved by voters a number of years ago.
County Judge Gerald Robinson said the Arkansas Department of Health has awarded the county $300,000 to go toward the construction of the new county health department building which is being constructed near Jefferson Regional Hospital and an appropriation of that amount was recommended for approval with the money going into construction costs.
Robinson said the State Health Department has approved a total of $700,000 for the building and the county can now apply for the balance of those funds.
After being put off since December, the justices of the peace approved an ordinance that will allow Tax Collector Tony Washington to increase the salary of his chief deputy to $50,000, which is comparable to the salaries of chief deputies in other elected offices. Washington will move the $28,000 that is currently in his Automated Fund to County General and move a $36,000 slot from county general to the Automation Fund, then increase the $36,000 in the Automation Fund to $50,000. Washington said that will save the County General $8,000.
