The millage tax hike being considered for Mississippi County will not be brought before the Quorum Court until November, according to Justice Michael White, chair of the court's Finance Committee.
White said Monday in the committee's weekly budget meeting that the law regarding such changes dictates that millage tax shifts may only be considered in the full Court's November meeting, so the issue of increasing the tax from 2 mills to 5 will be set aside until then.
The proposed millage increase will help boost the county's constricted 2012 budget, which is being closely examined in weekly meetings by the Finance Committee. While there have been some expectedly frustrated reactions in the community to the possible increase, White explained to the committee that Arkansas, and Mississippi County specifically, has always been an area with one of the lowest millage tax rates in the nation.
"In retrospect," he said, "we probably should have increased the millage by a little bit 10 years ago, and then five years ago, and it wouldn't have been such a dramatic increase all at once. But the Court has always been frugal and the county has had the extra money that it needed to float the general fund, until now."
The decrease in revenues to the county is in part a result of the drop in population that has occurred over the past several years, and the county is going to have to "learn to live on less," according to Justice Robert Earl Davis, who voiced his opinion that the county only needs one courthouse instead of two.
"If our county population, and city populations, keep decreasing, elected officials, police, everyone, needs to cut back," he said. "When your income goes down, you learn to live on less. This county needs one courthouse, no one wants to raise the issue because it's a hot topic, but it's going to have to happen."
All justices present discussed the fact that if this issue ever came into fruition, it would have to be brought to the public -- but that their current concern was creating next year's budget.
Elected officials are continuing to present their proposed departmental budgets for 2012 to the committee, beginning this week with Circuit Court Clerk Donna Bray, who said her department will be making no equipment purchases unless absolutely necessary. The clerk's office has also recently terminated an employee, and Bray told the committee that she would be willing to wait six months in the new year to see if that employee's work could be absorbed by the rest of the office, possibly saving the county on salary and benefits paid out to a replacement.
Cuts are also being made in other departments, with County Treasurer Peggy Meatte reporting more than $5,000 in cuts to equipment, service contracting, telephone, Internet and postage budget line items, and County Assessor Harley Bradley is also cutting several thousand dollars from his budget in a similar fashion.
Next week, the offices of the county judge and county clerk will present budgets.
The Quorum Court of Mississippi County meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Blytheville Courthouse. Issues on the table will be raising fees tacked on to county issued fines, and raising tipping fees at the county landfill. Each price hike would, according to White, help to defray expenses in its related department -- namely the county jail and landfill.
sharris@blythevillecourier.com