Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Brown Pushes For Prop 1

Getting proposed Amendment 1 passed Nov. 3, is important to Nevada County Judge James Roy Brown.

As it stands, he said, the county can't, by law, enter into an agreement requiring it to pay interest. Therefore, the county can't lease equipment, or sign contacts for lease to own deals.

Under the terms of proposition 1, he said, the county would legally be able to enter into short term financing deals for equipment, with the public protected by the ceilings written into the amendment.

"I'm all for it," Brown said. "We'd still be tied as to what we could do with the ceilings on the amount we could borrow. It's still short-term financing, but it would be legal."

Under the proposal, the county cold not commit more than 5 percent of the assessed value of taxable property at one time to any loan. Cities are allowed up to 10 percent of the assessed land value within the city limits.

Brown said while there are some counties being creative with the existing law on short term financing, he won't enter into any such agreement. When purchasing equipment this way, he said, the interest is usually built into the price, hiking the cost of the purchase. The interest, though, doesn't show up on the books and, technically, no law is broken.

In Nevada County, he said, the only way new equipment will be obtained is with the county having the money in hand at the time. This isn't easy for the county either, Brown commented.

As it stands, old equipment is used as long as it runs or can be repaired. The repairs and maintenance on old equipment results in lost time using it, and counties across the state put quite a few hours on their equipment.

Brown pointed out the state highway department may be able to leave a road grader sitting for weeks at a time, as can contractors. Counties, on the other hand, are using their equipment to maintain county roads and bridges whenever weather permits. Locally, he said, the road equipment gets about 1,200 hours a year put on it.

Should proposition 1 pass, he said, the county would save money in the long run. It could then purchase new equipment instead of having to attempt to repair old and worn pieces.

Currently, the county looks for the best deal it can get on used equipment as a way of rotating equipment out of service, but there are times it gets burned.

Now, Brown said, there are two tractors and bush hogs broken down and needing to be repaired. So instead of getting work done with this equipment, work is being done to it.

Also under prop 1, the length of time a county or city can be in a single lease agreement is five years, and the entity in question can work out a straight lease arrangement or a lease- purchase plan.

The amount of interest a city or county can pay is limited to 10 percent.

While road equipment is needed by the county, prop 1 wouldn't just limit the county to purchasing this type of machinery. It could also purchase much-needed vehicles for the Nevada County Sheriff's Office.

A fully-equipped new police car costs about $21,000.

State Rep. Percy Malone is also in favor of prop 1. He said it will allow cities and counties to buy equipment as needed instead of having to wait. These entities could then operate more like households hen budgets are made.

"I'm for it," Brown said, adding most of the county judges across Arkansas are also

working to see this amendment gets passed during the General Election.