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AAC Photo Recap: County Sheriffs
AAC PHOTO RECAP SHERIFFS
The Arkansas Sheriff’s Association held its summer conference June 5-8, in Rogers/Benton County.
Saline County Sheriff Rodney Wright was elected president of the Sheriff’s Association executive board. He is picture with his brother, Randy, and sister-in-law, Amanda. The Sheriff’s Association deemed Gov. Asa Hutchsinon an honorary sheriff for his devotion to law enforcement issues. Hutchinson is the 77th sheriff in the state. The association previously honored former Attorney General Dustin McDaniels. He is the 76th sheriff in the state.
Pictured is the association’s new executive board with the Hon. Circuit Judge Robin Green (middle), who performed the swearing in ceremony. The board includes Sergeant at Arms Hobe Runion (Sebastian); Sergeant at Arms Scott Sawyer (Polk); Executive Secretary John Staley (Lonoke); 2nd Vice President Shane Jones (Pope); President Rodney Wright (Saline); Financial Chair Shawn Holloway (Benton); Executive Secretary Mike Loe (Columbia); Secretary/Treasurer Tim Ryals (Faulkner); and 1st Vice President Dale Cook (Mississippi).
AAC F amily &AAC Association of Arkansas F riends » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » »
Counties W hen you participate in the AAC Workers’ Compensation Trust, you Workers’ Compensation Trust can relax in the hands of professional staff members who are going to take care of your needs. The AAC team has decades of experience in handling county government claims – they’re simply the best at what they do! Did we mention that participants in our plan are accustomed to getting money back? Since we started paying dividends in 1997, the AAC Workers’ Compensation Trust has declared almost $31.35 MILLION dollars in dividends, payable to members of the fund. In fact, we mailed $750,000 in savings back to member counties in July 2022. The service is available for any size county government and other county government-related entities. We’ve got you covered!
Members enjoy dividends! $31 Million paid since 1997
We’ve got you covered
Experienced & licensed examiners
Debbie Norman
Risk Management & Insurance Director 501.375.8247 Debbie Lakey
Claims Manager 501.375.8698 Kim Nash
Claims Adjuster 501.375.8805, ext. 546 Renee Turner
Claims Adjuster 501.375.8805, ext. 545 Kim Mitchell
Premium Analyst 501.375.8805, ext. 541 Ellen Wood
Admin. Assistant 501.375.8805, ext. 540 Brandy McAllister
RMF General Counsel 501.375.8694
AAC FEATURE
Workers’ Compensation Fund pays $750,000 in dividends to its member counties in 2022
The Association of Arkansas Counties Workers’ Compensation Trust is proud to announce that for the 26th straight year dividends will be returned to all participating counties. The 2022 dividend is declared based on 2018 premiums paid and losses incurred. This brings the total dividends paid over the last 26 years to $31,448,953.
AAC Workers’ Compensation Trust Group Manager Chris Villines recommended the $750,000 dividend to the board of trustees at its June meeting. Checks were issued in July.
“There are several reasons that we are able to continue returning such large sums to the counties,” Villines said. “Our staff is excellent and efficient and the counties of Arkansas work hard to minimize risks at home. I cannot compliment our Risk Management and Insurance Director Debbie Norman enough. She has an incredible responsibility and handles it wonderfully. The Workers’ Comp staff is equally adept. Debbie Lakey, Kim Nash, Renee Turner, Kim Mitchell, and Ellen Wood do an excellent job.”
AAC Risk Management and Insurance Director Debbie Norman said, “From inception to today, this program has performed beyond expectations. It has always been our goal to reward counties with dividends, and this is the 26th straight year that successful management of the program and the commitment to safety in our counties has allowed it to occur.”
AAC, along with county officials from around the state, created the AAC Workers’ Compensation Trust in 1985 — a plan to pool resources and form a selffunded, county-owned trust to provide premium Workers’ Compensation coverage at a savings to members. The AAC Workers’ Compensation Trust is fully regulated by the State of Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission. Current trustees are Jimmy Hart, Conway County Judge; Debbie Wise, Randolph County Circuit Clerk; Debra Buckner, Pulaski County Treasurer; Brandon Ellison, Polk County Judge; and Rusty McMillon, Greene County Judge.
Here are the formulaic dividend amounts per county as approved by the AAC/WCT board:
Arkansas County.........................$7,031 Ashley County.............................$6,509 Baxter County.............................$6,716 Benton County.........................$15,548 Boone County..........................$11,275 Bradley County...........................$5,241 Calhoun County............................$500 Carroll County...............................$500 Chicot County............................$4,417 Clark County..............................$9,686 Clay County................................$6,079 Cleburne County........................$4,162 Cleveland County.......................$4,555 Columbia County.......................$8,886 Conway County..........................$8,041 Craighead County....................$13,755 Crawford County.......................$5,963 Crittenden County...................$14,137 Cross County..............................$6,128 Dallas County.............................$4,530 Desha County.............................$5,029 Drew County..............................$6,816 Faulkner County.......................$25,803 Franklin County.........................$7,424 Fulton County............................$5,483 Garland County........................$23,613 Grant County..............................$7,749 Greene County............................$3,824 Hempstead County...................$10,657
Hot Spring County.....................$8,697 Howard County..........................$6,797 Independence County..............$13,047 Izard County...............................$6,176 Jackson County...........................$6,077 Jefferson County.......................$20,469 Johnson County.............................$500 Lafayette County.........................$6,760 Lawrence County........................$4,934 Lee County..................................$4,400 Lincoln County...........................$4,954 Little River County...................$11,261 Logan County.............................$4,766 Lonoke County...........................$8,521 Madison County.......................$13,645 Marion County.........................$11,057 Miller County...........................$20,266 Mississippi County...................$11,345 Monroe County..........................$4,893 Montgomery County..................$5,071 Nevada County...........................$5,855 Newton County..........................$5,458 Ouachita County......................$11,220 Perry County...............................$6,633 Phillips County...........................$3,941 Pike County................................$7,608 Poinsett County..........................$7,269 Polk County................................$9,176 Pope County.............................$17,571 Prairie County.............................$4,409 Pulaski County..........................$60,141 Randolph County.....................$17,150 Saline County............................$16,574 Scott County..................................$500 Searcy County.............................$6,986 Sebastian County......................$21,966 Sevier County..............................$7,797 Sharp County............................$11,888 St. Francis County.......................$8,781 Stone County..............................$5,588 Union County...........................$13,975 Van Buren County......................$8,995 Washington County..................$48,859 White County..........................$11,704 Woodruff County.......................$6,178 Yell County...............................$10,085
www.arcounties.org
In June, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced more than 1,900 local governments around the country will receive $549.4 million in Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) funding for 2022. Since local governments cannot tax federal lands, annual PILT payments help to defray costs associated with maintaining important community services.
Arkansas, home to 3,254,757 acres of federal land, will receive $8,022,913 million in PILT payments. That’s $269,734 more than it received in FY2021.
PILT payments are made annually for tax-exempt federal lands administered by Department of the Interior agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Reclamation. Additionally, PILT payments cover federal lands administered by the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission. These payments are calculated based on the number of acres of federal land within each county or jurisdiction, and the population of that county or jurisdiction.
“This program is an important example of the federal government’s commitment to continuing to be a good neighbor to the communities we serve. The nearly $550 million being distributed will help local governments carry out vital services, such as firefighting and police protection, construction of public schools and roads, and search-and-rescue operations,” said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.
Since PILT payments began in 1977, the Department has distributed more than $10.2 billion to states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The Department collects more than $10.3 billion in revenue annually from commercial activities on public lands, such as oil and gas leasing, livestock grazing, and timber harvesting. A portion of these revenues is shared with states and counties. The balance is deposited in the U.S. Treasury, which in turn pays for a broad array of federal activities, including PILT funding.
Individual county payments may vary from year to year as a result of changes in acreage data, which is updated annually by the federal agency administering the land; prior-year federal revenue-sharing payments reported annually by the governor of each state; inflationary adjustments using the Consumer Price Index; and population data, which is updated using information from the U.S. Census Bureau.
At right is a breakdown of the FY 2022 PILT payments to Arkansas counties that contain federal lands. Not all Arkansas counties contain federal lands — Bradley, Cleveland, Drew, Grant, Independence, Jackson, Lawrence, Lonoke, Miller, Nevada, Prairie, and Randolph counties. Calhoun, Crittenden, and White counties have 10, 2, and 42 acres of federal land, respectively, which was not enough to qualify for payments.
COUNTY PAYMENT ACRES
Arkansas Ashley Baxter Benton Boone Carroll Chicot Clark Clay Cleburne Columbia Conway Craighead Crawford Cross Dallas Desha Faulkner Franklin Fulton Garland Greene Hempstead Hot Spring Howard Izard Jefferson Johnson Lafayette Lee Lincoln Little River Logan Madison Marion Mississippi Monroe Montgomery Newton Ouachita Perry Phillips Pike Poinsett Polk Pope Pulaski Saline Scott Sebastian Sevier Sharp St. Francis Stone Union Van Buren Washington Woodruff Yell $20,442 $5,883 $294,612 $115,689 $40,464 $24,469 $1,328 $52,582 $1,313 $89,215 $389 $7,313 $8,132 $215,332 $118 $118 $11,826 $691 $307,343 $10,497 $449,345 $1,184 $15,271 $38,206 $44,878 $235 $10,295 $466,584 $3,144 $26,425 $112 $48,869 $320,598 $120,609 $219,330 $27,032 $38,724 $818,919 $554,256 $353 $239,893 $29,024 $81,098 $21,459 $479,199 $512,252 $5,185 $149,301 $842,739 $163,440 $56,725 $118 $740 $150,549 $1,963 $111,717 $65,147 $4,251 $551,348
6,958 2,130 110,800 40,125 13,773 8,329 452 17,898 447 30,803 160 7,163 2,768 86,104 40 40 4,025 242 120,806 3,573 161,829 403 5,198 13,029 15,571 80 3,504 194,961 1,070 11,909 38 16,634 124,160 48,471 74,952 9,201 13,181 357,703 236,990 120 100,603 11,042 29,537 7,304 205,933 200,678 1,765 58,622 368,023 76,698 19,308 40 252 61,478 668 42,088 25,068 1,447 242,859
