Budget Requests: New Timekeeping System, Stable Health Insurance Costs
Continuing its speedy 2023 Budget review, the Budget & Finance Committee met for about an hour on Monday, December 5, to read out the remaining 30-odd department requests. One request — the Circuit Clerk’s budget — will be considered at the Tuesday, December 6, meeting because some “errors” need to be corrected.
JP Tyler Pearson (D, Dist. 7) asked a few questions that revealed some of County plans for 2023:
New Timekeeping System
County employees will begin using a biometric electronic timekeeping system, moving much of the County away from “pen-and-paper” timesheets. County Clerk Margaret Darter explained the $18,000 annual “TimeClock Plus” license fee in her 2023 budget request:
[There’s] one for the Sheriff’s office, Road Department, and we just decided to put it all in my billing … so we can just pay one lump sum with it. But it’s also to help cut down on possible lawsuits.
County Attorney Phil Murphy remarked there’s been “a couple of issues with qualified time records… it’s a more accurate reflection of time being worked.” He added that the license fee covers all employees in “all departments, even if they’re not sitting in an office,” because the system is app-based.
Health Insurance
County employees continue to enjoy fully paid health insurance benefits, and Chairman JP John Pickett (D, Dist. 11) noted that costs “didn’t go up very much this year.”
County Administrator Tom Anderson explained the County, which is self-insured, is switching its third-party health plan administrator but no other details were provided. Anderson also noted that the County “charges” each Department $10,000 per employee for the County’s self-administered health insurance coverage.
Library Request Re-Do
The longest discussion of the meeting was about a dedicated revenue fund, the County Library, after Director John McGraw pointed out “there’s a couple of missing zeroes from what I turned in.”
The Committee ran through a series of amendments, finally agreeing to “pass accordingly.” McGraw, pointing out a higher-than-usual maintenance budget, said he would need more repair funds going forward because the Library “is a 30-year-old building.”
County Roads
Responding to Pearson’s inquiry, the Road Department “ran out of funds to appropriate,” and so had submitted a lowered asphalt budget request than the Department anticipates it will need for 2023. A comment was made that “a lot of times we’ll carry over more than anticipated” in the Road fund, “so we’ll come back” in 2023 for the needed money to complete 2023 Road Department projects.
(The individual speaking for the Road Department was off-camera, off mic, and was not introduced or identified.)
Full meeting:
BUDGET REQUESTS HEARD ON DECEMBER 5:
1000.0100 COUNTY JUDGE
1000.0107 QUORUM COURT
1000.0304 GRANTS-IN AID HEALTH
1000.0800 VETERANS SERVICE
1000.0803 GRANTS-IN AID SOCIAL SERVICES
1002.0121 HEALTH INSURANCE
3404.0406 ANIMAL WELFARE & CONTROL
1000.0101 COUNTY CLERK
1000.0109 ELECTION COMMISSION / VOTER REGISTRATION
3005.0117 COUNTY CLERK COST FUND
3400.0520 EMERGENCY SQUAD
1000.0108 MAINTENANCE
1000.0115 IT DEPARTMENT
2000.0200 COUNTY ROAD
3402.0201 COUNTY ROAD SALES TAX
3008.0600 COUNTY LIBRARY
1805.0430 COUNTY CIVIL ATTORNEY
1000.0404 DIVISION 4 CIRCUIT COURT
1000.0402 DIVISION 2 CIRCUIT COURT
3031.0431 JUVENILE PROBATION FEES
3411.0440 TEEN COURT
3412.0412 JUVENILE COURT PROGRAMS
3505.0434 JUVENILE COURT GRANTS
3514.0434 JUVENILE COURT GRANTS
3515.0442 JUVENILE DRUG COURT GRANT
3517.0444 JUVENILE OFFICER GRANT
3508.0443 JUVENILE PASS THROUGH GRANT — N/A
3509.0441 JUVENILE ACCOUNTABILITY BLOCK GRANT — N/A
3511.0511 CIRCUIT / DISTRICT COURT GRANT — N/A
3415.0000 FEMA FLOOD PASSTHROUGH — N/A
3516.0445 LLEBG GRANT — N/A
Videos edited from original video on Faulkner County’s YouTube channel.)
Visit Faulkner County Reports on YouTube for more videos and video excerpts from this and other County meetings.
