AAC
FEATURE
— Photo from CanStockPhoto
The price counties have paid Local governments have adapted and gotten creative during the pandemic.
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Story By Christy L. Smith AAC Communications Director
ounties are on the front lines of providing essential services such as road and bridge maintenance, public safety, and health and human services to residents. This unique position places counties at the forefront of responding in emergency situations. The last 18 months have been no exception, as a virus outbreak overseas became a pandemic that extended its reach around the world. COVID-19 thrust counties into uncharted waters. Anticipated increases in demand on local government services, increasing costs, and an uncertain economic outlook, forced counties across the country to institute some sort of austerity measures. Arkansas counties were no exception. The Association of Arkansas Counties (AAC) conducted an informal poll of the state’s 75 counties in May 2020, and about a quarter of them were preparing for what many experts thought would be dire economic circumstances. Craighead County Judge Marvin Day said his county postponed capital improvement projects, such as a courtroom expansion, to save money. And 120 of the county’s 277 employees took a voluntary furlough. Judge Day said this was 24
done for a couple of reasons: it was a way for the county to save money, and it was a way for employees to maintain their employment with the county but receive federal assistance to cover their salaries. “We did it in anticipation that we might have to permanently lay people off,” Day said. Some counties did lay employees off; some implemented hiring freezes; still others opted to stay the course and wait to see what the actual economic ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic would be. Another aspect of the counties’ response to the pandemic involved safety measures — both for those working in the courthouse buildings and for residents. As of May 17, 2021, the Arkansas Department of Health reported that over the course of the pandemic, the state had logged nearly 339,000 confirmed and probable cases of COVD-19. The state had nearly 5,800 deaths. According to the Health Department’s numbers the five counties with the most positive COVID-19 cases were Pulaski (33,813), Washington (23,450), Benton (21,893), Sebastian (11,790), and Craighead (11,682). The five counties with the fewest positive cases were Calhoun (307), Lafayette (378), Searcy (393), Montgomery (554), and Woodruff (452). COUNTY LINES, SPRING 2021
