Incumbent Union County Tax Collector Paula Beard and challenger Karen Scott went head-to-head at a candidate forum Monday night. The two Democratic candidates are vying for the office, which will be decided in the May 22 primary.
The Union County NAACP and the El Dorado-Union County Chamber of Commerce held the forum at the SouthArk College Library Auditorium.
Scott received the challenge of answering questions first, with Beard following.
Scott currently works as the deputy assessor in the Union County Assessor’s Office. She previously worked as the chief deputy tax collector under Dorothy Raley, and then under Beard when she came in to office in 2017.
Beard, who was elected tax collector in 2016 and began her term in 2017, has worked in the Union County Courthouse for 24 years.
When asked what the role of the tax collector is, Scott said she believed the role is to take the evaluations from the assessor’s office to the collector’s office, where they are put into the system, “and you collect the taxes.”
Beard said the tax assessor puts the value and adds the tax on to your assessment sheet, then the tax collector collects taxes for the county, municipals, schools and improvement district taxes, “and that’s what my office does.”
Scott said she considers her experience a qualification for the position.
“I feel like you need to have experience in all aspects of the office as far as collecting all of the money,” she said. “My experience was I worked for (Raley) and now I’m in the assessor’s office so I see both hands on the two systems and how they both need to get along and work together.”
Beard said she thinks you have to have knowledge, leadership and experience.
“I have federal, state and county leadership working for the county for 24 years,” she said.
Beard added that her staff is an essential part of the success of an office, “and I do have a great staff.”
When asked if they envision changes if elected, Scott replied “yes.” She said she would switch back to the AS400 system, which was replaced by Beard last year with Apprentice Information Systems (AIS).
“(The AS400) produces a final tax settlement every year to the penny,” Scott said.
She said the systems between the tax collector’s office and the assessor’s office “are not speaking to each other.” She also emphasized the importance that the two offices be on the same page and communicate.
Beard said they are looking at issues and they think they have found a solution.
“I talked to 68 other counties where the assessor and the collector are on different systems,” Beard said. “They have no problem. No other assessor or collector in 68 counties who are on different programs have an issue except for Union County.”
Beard added that she didn’t think looking back should be an option for Union County or the taxpayers.
“We are now in the 21st century and the only time you should ever look back is to see how far you’ve come,” she said.
Addressing why she would be the best person for the job, Scott said her experience and having the systems in the collector and assessor offices speak to each other are priorities.
“I know that the word ‘dinosaur’ has come up in the past referring to the AS400,” Scott said. “It’s old and it’s ugly … but the first thing that comes to my mind is what (Raley) always said, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’”
Scott also said that it doesn’t matter what type of system you operate on, “it matters that you now how to use it and that you know how to operate it.”
Scott also said that the AS400 can be updated to print receipts, take credit cards plus many other functions.
“It can do everything that is asked of it, it just wasn’t given the opportunity,” she said. “So I would like to give it the opportunity to talk with the assessor’s office and get on the same page and just have a better atmosphere for everybody.”
Beard said her leadership, knowledge and experience over the past 24 years gives her an insight on problem solving and leadership.
“I’ve done a lot of amazing things in office,” she said. “Bringing (the office) into the 21st century is no small task. It’s been hard work for me and my staff. We are dedicated, we get the work done and we get it done in a timely matter.”
Beard added that she has made “tremendous strides and progress” and that it would be a “mistake if you went back to a 1980s system.”
“I do believe for every problem, there is a solution and we all need to work together to find a solution that produces a positive end result,” Beard said.
Kaitlyn Rigdon can be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected].