The Union County Quorum Court will hold its monthly this morning, at which they will discuss amending the fiscal year 2020 budget and appointing a county doctor for the Union County Jail.
Mike Dumas, Justice of the Peace for District 1 and chairman of the body's Finance Committee, said in a written correspondence that the budget will be amended to more accurately reflect the tax dollars collected under the county's library mills.
The Union County Public Library System receives the bulk of its funding from local millages; the county collects half a mill and the City of El Dorado collects 1 mill for the library system.
Michael O'Connell, executive director of the library system, said the millage rate for the county library system, which includes branches in El Dorado (Barton Library), Junction City (Harper Memorial Library), Huttig, Norphlet, Smackover and Strong, hasn't changed since the 1980s.
With technological advances forcing the system to purchase multiple computers for each branch and the 2018 vote to raise the minimum wage in Arkansas over three years, the unchanging budget is causing O'Connell to tighten the library's spending.
He said more than 65% of the system's budget this year will go toward payroll and he expects it to be over 70% of next year's budget, which will make it difficult to buy new books after this year.
"It also doesn't help that we have a 60-year-old building here," he said. "The easiest, quickest solution is to buy less books, which actually hurts us in the long run. We'd rather not do that, but we'll see."
O'Connell said he doesn't expect today's discussion at Quorum Court to change the library system's funding situation.
The Quorum Court will also appoint a county doctor for the county jail. Dumas said Dr. Deanna Hopson, a local family doctor, will be appointed formally for insurance purposes.
The body will also review an ordinance that would authorize the termination of an agreement the county currently has with the City of El Dorado to manage the El Dorado – Union County Recreation Complex and authorize a new joint operating agreement.
The Quorum Court began considering turning over the Complex's administration to the city in November. They presented a draft operating agreement to the El Dorado City Council in December and the City Council approved it last month.
The Quorum Court will meet at 10 a.m. in the third-floor conference room at the Union County Courthouse. The meeting is open to the public.
Caitlan Butler can be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected].