Arkansas Online

Cleanup funding favored for 2022

By Eplunus Colvin

The chairman of Pine Bluff’s Public Works Committee, Ivan Whitfield, made an immediate and successful motion to reinstate the Clean and Beautiful budget for 2022 during Tuesday’s city budget hearings.

Council members previously told Clean and Beautiful Commission Director Kelli Kennedy that they saw no need for the existence of the commission when their sites were overgrown and had not been maintained on a consistent basis. Kennedy’s 2021 budgeted amount was $23,382 but her 2022 budget had been zeroed out.

“The time this was taken out, we just didn’t feel like we were getting the benefits because of the adopted spots and the areas that were supposed to be maintained,” said Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington, who mentioned the Parks and Recreation Department were maintaining most of the spots. “Since having their last Public Works meeting, some work has been done on multiple Clean and Beautiful sites, but prior to, we were having to maintain them ourselves.”

Clean and Beautiful is responsible for maintaining 27 locations.

Whitfield didn’t want to continue to pile the workload on the Parks and Recreation Department, which he felt already had its hands full.

“My issue with Clean and Beautiful, even if they started doing all the work required of them, most of the money goes towards salary and rent at the Reynolds Center,” committee member Joni Alexander said. “We could be using that money to put in our budget somewhere else to simply cut grass.”

Alexander also suggested using that money to pay the underpaid city workers who were already doing the job.

According to financial documents provided by Clean and Beautiful, the city contributes $23,000, Jefferson County contributes $8,900 and the Pine Bluff Street Department contributes $17,860.

“Of that, almost 50 percent goes to payroll,” Alexander said.

The documents show $6,549 toward rent and $15,842 toward mowing and landscaping.

Washington mentioned putting some of the roadside cleanings under the Street Department as other cities do.

“We can get more bang for our buck if we appropriate this money to other areas so that we can pay these employees as we said,” Washington said.

Whitfield expressed throughout the hearing that he felt every full-time city employee should make at least $30,000. He was adamant about bringing their pay up and giving raises to deserving department heads and city workers.

“If we increase some of the salaries that are under $30,000 to $30,000, we can raise a lot of salaries with this $41,000 to the $30,000 mark,” said Washington.

But with Whitfield’s motion to reinstate the budget already on the floor, committee member Steven Mays Sr. seconded it.

The decision will now be passed to the full council for the final budget approval.

Two department budgets were delayed and not passed during Tuesday’s hearings.

Street Department Director Rick Rhoden said he was forced to make budget cuts when it was discovered that his budget was being funded by carryover money that was projected to run out by 2023.

Rhoden said in a preliminary meeting with city finance director Gina Devers and Washington that he was told he would have to cut his budget by $700,092.

According to financial documents, the Street Department’s net grand total was $706,814.

Expenses were budgeted over revenue in 2021. Devers said in order to get ahead so the Street Department doesn’t get in the red, cuts were needed.

Whitfield and Alexander did not agree with cutting the Street Department’s budget, considering there were needs that could help improve streets and ditches, a common complaint that they receive from residents.

“We keep putting a burden on the street department when they are not even able to handle the burdens they already have,” Alexander said, wanting more time to go through the budget.

Whitfield said more from the street department can’t be expected with its budget cut.

Alexander discovered in the budget that the Street Department was matching an Federal Transit Authority grant of $399,541 for the Transit Department and felt that money should be given back. She also understood some funds were not used due to covid and unavailable supplies, and didn’t want those line items reduced.

Rhoden said the extra money could be used to purchase a hot patch machine to fix potholes and to hire more help.

“I can’t support this budget as is unless we make some changes to it,” Alexander said.

A motion was made to delay the acceptance of the budget.

The Parks and Recreation budget was also delayed because committee members wanted clarity of the spending.

Financial documents provided by Devers did not provide the details that councilmember Whitfield and Alexander were seeking.

“When I look at the budget of Parks and Recreation and I see the amount in certain areas that they spent and I don’t find a request to move money, it bothers me,” said Whitfield.

Parks and Recreation Director Samuel Glover explained the sub-departments weren’t provided to the council from the financial department, which would otherwise explain the specific spending.

“You guys are looking at a summary,” Glover said. “I like it broken out into sub-departments because it helps you understand fully what’s going on.”

Whitfield asked Devers to provide the total amount of everything that was spent for Parks and Recreation. Whitfield also made it clear he couldn’t accept the budget with Glover’s salary being less than an employee who worked under him.

“There are issues that I have with this budget that we got to fix,” said Whitfield. “It ain’t personal. It’s just business.”

On a lighter note, Glover said the city parks were thriving, especially during the covid climate as more families were utilizing the park for safe fun.

All bond payments were accepted during the 2022 budget hearing.

There were no changes in the budget for Southeast Arkansas Regional Planning, Economic Development District, Downtown Development or Storm Water.

The Pine Bluff Commercial

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2021-12-02T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-02T08:00:00.0000000Z

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