President’s Perspective

from Winter 2016 County Lines

Collectors hold December meeting in Conway

Counties working in unison to address chain of challenges

The Association of Arkansas Counties board of directors is a diverse group when it comes to their varied roles in their respective constituencies. As many of you know, the AAC board is comprised of representatives from each of our member associations — judges, collectors, circuit and county clerks, treasurers, sheriffs, assessors, justices of the peace and coroners.

Collectively, these offices deliver necessary and critical services to their counties. As a board, they serve all the counties in the state of Arkansas, and I think they do a wonderful job. I’ve said it before and will say it again, “I’m absolutely honored to serve the counties of Arkansas as their AAC board president.”

I’ve witnessed the board work through complex and dynamic issues facing our state and counties and look forward to what we will accomplish together in 2016.

We will certainly have a fiscal session this April, and it appears we will see a couple of special sessions aimed at addressing major issues for our state. We could liken these challenges to a chain because every link depends on the other.

It has become evident that Arkansas Works (Medicaid expansion and the private option) will have to be settled before the state can really work on the numerous other links or pressing issues. In our estimation, highway and road funding is the second link in this current chain of challenges. And the state is not the only entity with substantial bumps on this road. Counties have significant needs in maintaining their network of rural roads and bridges. We will continue to educate about the importance of these critical paths for our school traffic, farm-to-market infrastructure and rural residents. Did you know that according to a recent study there are 1,196 obsolete or structurally deficient county bridges in Arkansas?

I would also include the criminal justice system and jail and prison overcrowding as a third link, if you will, on our chain of challenges. The Council of State Governments Justice Center recently reported that Arkansas has the fastest growing prison population in the country. We also own one of the highest recidivism rates in the nation at 48 percent. In the last several months, counties have experienced some immediate relief from the county jail backup, and we are thankful for the governor and the state for understanding the crisis in our local jails. However, the solutions to our state’s prison and jail overcrowding cannot come to fruition until our prison growth and recidivism rate issues are fully understood. Counties will be working with the Council of State Governments Justice Center to dig deeper into the county factor before the center presents its next report in March.

By the way, it is no coincidence that Gov. Asa Hutchinson established task forces or working groups on all three of these challenges in the last session. The administration knew that these three main links were keys to Arkansas’ future. We will continue to partner with the administration and leadership on these challenges as well as others.

Thank you to all the county officials across the state who serve so diligently and selflessly for the betterment of county government and all Arkansans.

Judy Beth Hutcherson Clark County Treasurer / AAC Board President