Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Council Discusses Money Woes

By JOHN MILLER

Financial problems dominated the discussion of the Gurdon City Council Monday night.

Primarily the financial problems of the Gurdon Police Department.

According to Mayor Rick Smith, the department has spent 84.1 percent of its budget for salaries already, with three months left in the year. The budget was based on the GPD spending $12,000 a month to pay its employees, but, with overtime, the figures have been running about $13,000 or more.

As it stands, the department has $23,092.55 left in the salary budget.

Councilman Glenn Hughes said the budget committee needs to address this situation and find a way to put more money in the GPD budget for special situations such as the Forest Festival and football games.

Smith said the city had total revenues of $576,000 for the general fund. Out of this fund three departments operate. Those are parks and recreation, administration and the GPD.

The parks budget for 1997 was $1,075. This figure was $6,000 in 1994. Smith said even with the park budget reduced the city has better facilities than it did three years ago. This is because the city has worked to find grants to help offset the cost of new equipment and utilized the street department to install it.

He said the salaries for the city administration, which include the mayor, city recorder/treasurer and janitor, are $22,000 a year total and can't be cut.

The utility bills for the City Hall had been budgeted at $12,000. To date, Smith said, the city has paid $7,500.

This, he said, is because the city procured an energy grant and was able to have new heating and air conditioning units installed, as well as having the fire bays made more energy efficient.

David Childres, city marshal, pointed out the GPD budget for 1997 was $20,000 less than in 1996.

"There's nowhere to cut," he said, adding the officers do many things they don't get paid for and don't turn many hours they work in because of the budget problems.

"They give a lot to this city," he said.

Smith said the council can amend the budget, and if the money is there it can amend the expenses. But, if the money is not available, the council must find ways to trim the expenses.

He reminded the council the officers with the GPD are certified and if laid off will have little trouble finding other work. He also said it would be hard for the city to replace these officers with what it can afford to pay.

Changing subjects, slightly, Smith said if the half cent sales tax is passed by the people on Nov. 18 it is expected to generate $6,900 per year.

This money is to be used to have an emergency warning siren system installed, an animal control system established and help the GPD.

It will cost about $25,000 to purchase and have the sirens installed. Smith said the Gurdon Fire Department is willing to use some of its capital improvement funds to get the sirens put in with the city to pay it back from the sale tax monies over a period of time.

In Arkansas, it is illegal for a city or county to enter into a long-term agreement with public funds.

Smith said a part-time police officer can act as the animal control officer, thereby earning more money himself. The animals caught would be taken to Arkadelphia where they would be held.

The remaining tax money would go to help the GPD.

Smith said previous administrations have used the "quick fix" approach to the problem, but this has resulted in taking money from the street and fire departments and not alleviating the situation.

He said $30,000 per year is moved from the street budget to the GPD, while the GFD pitches in $12,000 for the dispatchers's salaries.

The expenses, he said, continue to rise while the revenue doesn't. "I'm putting this monkey on the council's back to help find a place to cut expenses."

The new South Clark County Rescue Unit should be operational by the time the Forest Festival rolls around.

According to Chris Dulin, a member of the GFD, Gurdon has been working more than a year to establish a rescue unit for the south part of the county, and has been able to do this now at no cost to the city.

He said $22,500 was raised for the unit. This money was used to purchase a "jaws of life", a truck and other equipment needed for emergency rescues.

Dulin said the GFD, which will operate the unit, is looking to put a camper shell on the truck to keep the equipment dry.

The rescue unit, he added, is all volunteer, with none who work on it to be paid.

Smith said many people worked long and hard to make this dream a reality, including city recorder/treasurer Tambra Smith and administrative assistant Mary Burns. These two, he said, worked with the Ross Foundation, the Clark County Quorum Court and the Rural Advocacy group to help raise the necessary money for the unit.

Fire Chief Jake McBride asked the council for permission to allow children to ride on the firetruck during the Forest Festival parade. This was granted when the council learned the city has liability insurance to protect it.

More than 130 street signs have been put up by the Gurdon Street Department, according to street superintendent Jim Caldwell. He said the next area to get new signs will be along Main Street and the heavier traveled sections of town.

With new street signs going up, the question was raised if any streets had been renamed. Smith said the street by McGee's Grocery had its named changed from Elm, which is actually Highway 67, to Gatlin. Part of Stovall Street, which used to run in three directions, has been changed to Henry Bell Street.

Smith said the Gurdon Chamber of Commerce is now working with the Arkadelphia Chamber and will soon have a map printed with the city streets of both cities, along with a county map.

For the airport commission report, Burns said Lowe Field now has a 60-foot wide, 4,600 feet long runway.

She said the project went over budget by $20,000 originally. This, she said, was because when the new section was laid it caused a rise which could be dangerous for aircraft. To alleviate the situation, asphalt was laid to the crown of the old runway.

The Arkansas Department of Aeronautics, Burns said, approved a grant of $14,700 to help defray the cost overrun, with Gurdon to pay the rest using in-kind labor.

She said the Horace C. Cabe Foundation has also approved a grant of $87,000 to help finish the current and next phase of the renovation project. This will see the runway have a two-inch asphalt overlay over the entire surface.

The money left over, she said, will be used to purchase a power cart for the airport. "We will have a class A airport that can handle almost any kind of corporate jet."

Burns said this $400,000 project has been done at no cost to the city, as it was done with grants and using street department help.

Solid waste reared its ugly head during the meeting, with Smith reminding the council letters h