Republicans talk a lot about the benefits of smaller government. One way to achieve that goal, we've heard some members of the GOP say over the years, is to limit the flow of government's lifeblood -- tax dollars.
The Republican majorities in the General Assembly and Gov. Asa Hutchinson took a step in that direction during this year's recently adjourned legislative session. The governor had campaigned on a pledge of a $100 million middle-class tax cut affecting about 600,000 people in the state. State lawmakers were more than willing to grant him that wish. Act 22 cut income tax rates for Arkansans with incomes between $21,000 and $35,000 from 6 to 5 percent. Rates for those making between $35,100 and $75,000 would see their rate drop from 7 to 6 percent. The cuts will go into effect in the 2016 tax season.
What's the point?
The state slightly increased what it pays to house state prisoners in county jails, but chose tax cuts rather than fair compensation to local communities.
Those cuts, however, won't necessarily shrink government. The actual budget the Legislature approved for next year totals $5.18 billion, which is $133 million more than last year's budget. Maybe it's just one of those Washington, D.C., kinds of approaches to smaller government -- spend more and grow government, but it will be smaller than it would have been. Presto-change-oh! Smaller government.
And that's bad news for the Republicans in charge of Benton County government. A little more than a week ago, the Benton County Quorum Court's Legislative Committee hosted state lawmakers Ray Dotson, Dan Douglas, Sue Scott and Rebecca Petty. At the forefront of those discussions were the concerns about the stress created by the high number of state inmates being left in the county jail, and the paltry $28 a day the state pays for their care.
It's a fair point. In the topsy-turvy world of government, the state actually gets to set how much it will pay to local jails for housing state inmates rather than county jails setting their own rates. The people in county jails are most often people who have been convicted and sentenced locally, but just haven't been picked up for transport to a prison. The counties are stuck with them, and stuck with the low-ball daily rate state government pays.
Across Arkansas, about 2,200 state inmates are backed up in county jails. That includes more than 200 at the Benton County jail. Those numbers throw a kink into local incarceration needs -- district judges have found it difficult to impose local sentences because there's literally no room in the jail for people who have lesser debts to pay to society.
"We feel like we're being taken advantage of," Justice of the Peace Kevin Harrison sold the lawmakers. Harrison said the county's average cost to old a prisoner is about $48.
State Rep. Dan Douglas offered up the best defense he could. The Legislature agreed to increase the daily rate the state pays -- from $28 to $30.
Hey, $2 may seem like peanuts, but it's been $28 so long, one could argue it's a windfall. It's not, but one could argue it.
So far, the solutions state officials have offered for overcrowding of state prisons will help, but will not eliminate the burdens being placed on county jails. And at those prices, it means local communities with larger jails are subsidizing state government's inability or unwillingness to fix the problem. Since there's no real leverage local officials can wield, the state can pretty much do as it pleases.
Douglas went on to explain how the $100 in tax cuts the Legislature approved means less money to spend on programs of lesser priority -- such as state inmates in county jails.
"But we do have budget constraints just like the county," he told the group. "We have needs. We need money for roads, for our human development centers so we can continue to grow jobs. The pie is not big enough. It's not a big enough pie for everybody to get what they want and still cut taxes and grow jobs."
Isn't this exactly the approach to government the Republicans in Benton County support? Tax cuts before anything else?
Maybe the state will increase its payment of jail fees to $31 or $32 once all those new jobs pour into the state because of the $100 million-a-year tax cut lawmakers adopted.
Until then, Benton County, remember this: Smaller government is good.
(Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)