Seems to Me

Establishing priorities not easy

Counties should be one of them

Unlike Andy Rooney, a man who had the gift of saying so much with so few words, I tend to use so many words and say so little. But please stay with me as we talk about establishing priorities in government.

It will seem but “a blink of the eye” and the 2013 General Assembly will be underway and the central focus, as always, will be balancing the state budget. Gov. Mike Beebe will set forth his plan, which will go into the legislative cauldron where much discussion will ensue (we trust the pot will not boil over), aimed at setting the state’s priorities.

Establishing the state’s funding priorities will be viewed with varying degrees of depth by those involved. Some will look deep and philosophically in setting priorities — trying to understand the state’s degree of responsibility. Others will reason in a more shallow sense and make decisions without knowledge of responsibility. Sometimes priorities are established based simply on desires and what is important to a person, regardless of the actual responsibility of the state to provide funding based upon constitutional and statutory law. In other words, the small, unimportant things become priority to some. Here’s an unrelated example that makes the point. A century-old building that had served as the priory and primary student residence of a small Catholic college was about to be demolished. As the wrecker’s ball began to strike, I sensed the anxiety and sadness experienced by one of the older monks whose order had founded the college.

“This must be difficult to watch, Father,” I said. “The tradition associated with that building and the memories of all the students and monks who lived and worked there … I can’t imagine how hard this must be for you.”

“It’s worse than that,” the monk replied. “I think I left my iPhone in there.”

No one with at least an ounce of intelligence will say it is an easy job. It being establishing priorities and balancing the state budget is a very difficult job and extremely important. There is little, if any, room for the trivial. I would have to surmise that most legislators realize that wrong decisions in setting the priorities can change the course of Arkansas history, and not for the better. Conversely, the right decisions will lay a foundation for Arkansas to emerge from these difficult times as an even stronger state — from state government down to local government and on down to the homes and daily lives of all Arkansans. Some priorities, while possibly important, can be delayed, but others must receive attention now.

Government leaders today face a real challenge. There is a lurking attitude among many citizens that government is really not needed for much and the answer to every financial crisis is to simply cut the funding for government or, in other words, cut taxes. Because of this attitude, politicians tend to just focus on cutting spending. While that may make people happy in the short term, it does not put us on the right course for the future. Yes, government must balance its budget, but also must, or at least should, provide a quality level of service to its citizens. And that, of course, takes money.

All levels of government — federal, state, county and municipal — are required to provide certain services for their citizens and have a moral obligation to provide others. There are other services that are nice, but not required. They can be provided if the people are willing to pay for them. Here is where prioritization comes in to play. And as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said centuries ago, “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”

Establishing priorities has to be exercised at every level of government. But since we are talking about the impending state legislative session let’s discuss state government, which, of course, can have a huge effect on local governments. State government is important to every citizen. We recognize that some funding goes to services used by citizens now, but other funding goes to investments in our future and future generations.

In my 32 years of experience in government, I have never seen a legislative session that had enough revenue to fund all the wants and very few, if any, that had revenue sufficient to fund all the real needs. Even though the state of Arkansas ended the fiscal year June 30 with a $145.6 million general revenue surplus, that does not mean that every need was funded in the state’s recently closed fiscal year. And it does not mean that the state of Arkansas will automatically have all the revenue they need to fund the fiscal year that they will make appropriations for when they convene January 2013. You see, they already know that they are facing an estimated $400 million shortfall for Medicaid funding due to changes in federal law and funding for Medicaid.

That scenario does not bode well for what I know to be another funding shortfall of the state of Arkansas, which is to properly fund county government. I fully understand that counties have the authority to levy certain taxes and fees for county operations. And counties do levy taxes and fees for operations. But counties are civil divisions of the state and are the state’s auxiliaries and instrumentalities in the administration of the state’s government. I am not complaining about the functions counties have to implement and administer for the state because that is one of the reasons Arkansas counties were created. However, we should receive a sufficient state appropriation to cover the expenses of those state-mandated responsibilities. Improvement needs to be made on that front. County government, as an arm of state government, should be given higher priority as state

Seems To Me...

Eddie A. Jones Guest Writer “Desires determine our priorities. Priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions.”

funding priorities are established.

A few years ago, a colleague of mine in one of the western cattle ranching states was making a point before a legislative committee. This state apparently was not going to have sufficient revenue to properly fund the needs of the state, including the needs of local government. My colleague gave the following analogy to the committee members. He said, “There is a lot of similarity in the state addressing its revenue shortfall and a cattle rancher suffering the effects of a drought. In times of drought, the rancher has four alternatives: (1) Cut the fence between you and your neighbor [state just takes local funding]; (2) Let your herd completely graze the pasture off to the point where the cattle get hungry and break the fence down in order to get to some food [residents end up at the county courthouse demanding services when the state no longer provides funding.]; (3) Cut the size of the herd [state reduces the size of state government]; or (4) Acquire additional pasture [increases in taxes and fees to properly fund the needs of government].”

If I’ve learned anything in three-plus decades in county government, it is that to ignore the facts does not change the facts. And the fact is, the state of Arkansas does not currently have adequate revenues to properly fund the real needs of the state and its partner in delivering those services — county government.

A key role for our state’s leadership, administrative and legislative, is to envision the state’s future and identify the components necessary to get us there. Leaders must also engage the voting public to elicit their support of that vision, and trust that leaders are investing in the right steps to get us there. One of those steps has to be a willingness to explain there is no “free lunch.” Government leaders must make clear

the role of taxes in funding vital services many people take for granted – from fire and police “One fact remains, however, America has the best govprotection to law enforcement and the courts and from public health to infrastructure needs. We cannot have a first-rate education system, which is a ernmental structure in the world and key component to economic prosperity, without dollars. Arkansas is an important part of these United States of America.” We cannot prosper without a modern state and county transportation and road system that provides mobility for people and commerce without dollars. We cannot compete without a trauma care network that can save lives in all regions of the state without dollars. We cannot fairly govern and serve locally without equal and adequate services without dollars and we will not prosper without a sound, balanced tax structure. No doubt, efficiency in government operations is important and is something that requires constant vigilance. In any big operation, government included, there is room for improvement. But at the end of the day, the society we know could not exist, and we would not enjoy the quality of life we have without government. Our intergovernmental system is often a source of conflict, with disagreements between federal and state government, state and local government and counties and cities. One fact remains, however; America has the best governmental structure in the world and Arkansas is an important part of these United States of America. We arrived at this pinnacle thanks to outstanding, visionary leaders in the past. And if we are to remain atop the summit of sound government systems, it will be because of those visionary leaders that step forward today and establish the right progressive priorities. Revenue, expenditure and investment decisions made by government today lay the groundwork and foundation for our future prosperity. Laying this foundation cannot be done through polls. When history is examined and courageous leaders identified, they often are not doing the most popular thing at the time. The “best decisions” are not always easy, nor are they always popular. But we must trust and hope that statesmanship will survive and good leaders will continue to come forward with the best decisions. History will recognize the value of those types of leaders — real statesmen. Because as James Freeman Clark said, “There is a difference between a politician and a statesman. A politician thinks of the next election and a statesman thinks of the next generation.” Right priorities in the state of Arkansas will always include county government because of the way and reason for which we were created. The counties of Arkansas and the state of Arkansas are linked and our solutions should be too. County government and state government serve the same people. We share an identical base. By focusing on results we can continue to build a meaningful state-county partnership. “Desires dictate our priorities. Priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions.”

(Eddie Jones, county consultant, of Pocahontas served as Randolph County Treasurer from 1981 until taking the reins as AAC Executive Director in 2007; he retired that post in mid-2010. Readers can reach him at: e.jonesconsulting@gmail.com.)

State Representative Ann Clemmer job shadows Saline County Judge Lanny Fite this summer. Saline County Courthouse.

Shadowing the judge in

By Scott Perkins County Lines Editor

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of articles focusing on state representatives and senators job-shadowing their respective county elected officials.

Saline County Judge Lanny Fite opened his courthouse and working environment to State Rep. Ann Clemmer (District 29) this summer for the sake of a new Association of Arkansas Counties (AAC) job shadowing project which partners county elected officials with their respective state senators or representatives.

Clemmer spent the morning shadowing Fite, which included touring some of the county’s facilities, talking about recent and upcoming Saline County projects and learning all about a day in the life of the Saline County Judge.

Just after 8:30 a.m., Clemmer and Fite sat in his office in the Saline County Courthouse sipping coffee and talking about the business of governing and serving one’s constituents. They spoke frankly and candidly while the judge went about his morning to-do list. In the 45 minutes, Fite handled several tasks, phone calls and made decisions as he tried to share his work day with his representative.

John Vance, Saline County building supervisor, had some business to discuss with the judge and hesitantly walked in the office after he noticed Fite had a full room.

“Come on John,” Fite said. “They’ll be here a little bit today, but we’ve got things going on.”

“The judge is a busy man,” Vance smilingly said. “You’ll have to keep up with him.”

Vance came in to quickly discuss the new evidence room project he was managing. He and Fite rapidly worked through a couple of items concerning the project and then Vance went about his way.

Fite tried to share an overview of county government with Clemmer, and at first, he spoke in broad terms.

“Being able to work with other elected officials is important to being successful,” Fite explained. “Some of us might be from different parties when we’re running, but after the election, we all work together.”

Fite said detention centers and jails are at the top of mind for most county officials.

“Our No. 1 problem is our jails and funding for jails,” Fite said in regard to counties’ largest challenge.

Fite and Clemmer spoke about the jail issue for several minutes and touched on high medical expenses for state and county inmates, growing populations and the need for a better way of doing things.

The conversation meandered throughout the morning while Clemmer asked Fite to describe the judge’s role in general and some of Saline County’s recent projects.

“Anything in the county that somebody wants done, they come to this office,” Fite said as he gestured to his desk. “The larger counties also deal a lot more with longterm issues such as water infrastructure, planning development and economic development.”

Fite pointed out that there have been 200 subdivisions created in Saline County in the last 13 years. He also said in the same time period, about 30,000 people have moved into the county. Saline County’s current population is more than 107,000.

Above: Lanny Fite (left), Bo White (center), Saline County Road Department project coordinator, and Ann Clemmer browse the road department’s database and GIS mapping capabilities. Above: Lanny Fite and Ann Clemmer tour the Saline County Courthouse.

Left: Ann Clemmer (from left), Lanny Fite and Saline County Assessor Jim Crawford talk about trends in county assessments.

the judge in Saline County

HOPE Court

Saline County is the first county in Arkansas to test what is called a HOPE court. There are three HOPE courts across the nation, in Hawaii, Washington and Arkansas. Judge Gary Arnold facilitates Saline County’s. Fite said HOPE court is not for serious offenders, but is designed to attempt to change behavior quickly without simply doing what has always been done with repeat offenders or those on probation.

HOPE is a Hawaiian program centered on immediate— and tough—sanctions for probation violations, rather than far-off court dates and mere slaps on the wrist, according to www.rightoncrime.com. Probation participants in HOPE court are subject to random drug tests and can be incarcerated for violations without going to court.

“I’m impressed so far,” Fite said. “Nothing is perfect and what we are doing now is not working for these individuals. I look forward to seeing what Judge Arnold’s HOPE court can accomplish here.”

Geographic Information Systems mapping

In Saline County, modern maps help the county be more efficient and organized in countless ways.

“The most amazing thing that has happened to me since I’ve been here,” Fite said about GIS technology. “Research that used to take hours or even days, now takes only a few moments.”

Fite said some of the data on Saline County’s database includes tax parcels, flood plains, fire districts and hydrants, political districts, weather sirens and county roads and addresses.

The Saline County Road Department utilizes GIS databasing as well as any department and has more than 700 miles of county roads in its system. The department also handles about 4,000 calls from the public per year.

“I loved seeing the computer equipment the road department uses to track jobs,” Clemmer said. “Very impressive.”

The system allows road department personnel to track calls and complaints, monitor and dispatch resources and sort by job type for organizing work flow. Fite said it greatly enhanced the department’s ability to identify reoccurring problems.

“It does help our residents to know that we are aware they called and we can use the system to find out where we are at on the project,” Fite said.

Fite mentioned the Rushing Road project to explain how the database helps the county be efficient. Rushing Road was a source for reoccurring road department work, he said.

“My pet peeve is going back to do a job that we’ve already done,” Fite said. “The best thing we ever did was to start keeping track of projects in the road department.”

The road department was the last stop in the day’s schedule, however. Fite said he thought Clemmer had a chance to get a good picture of what its like to be a county judge.

“Elected officials working together is critical to having good local government,” Fite reiterated.

Clemmer agreed and said that working with various officials and organizations is at the heart of good governing.

“I think shadowing a county judge is a good thing for legislators to do, especially if they haven’t spent much time around county government,” Clemmer added.