Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – The Craighead County Public Service Committee voted Monday to send an ordinance to propose a ballot measure to combine the offices of the county treasurer and collector into one office to the full Quorum Court.
Earlier this year, the Quorum Court approved a study to see if combining the two offices would be effective. The study, authored by county attorney Kimberly Dale, ultimately found that it would be an efficient move with proper checks and balances.
The study was initially presented to Quorum Court members at its Nov. 24 meeting. No action was taken on it, but several Justices of the Peace reported that superintendents in their respective districts were against the measure.
Craighead County Judge Marvin Day told committee members the idea was inspired by other counties with consolidated offices, such as Pulaski, Sebastian, Johnson, Lafayette, and Monroe counties. He said it would act as a cost-saving measure, not only eliminating the salary costs of an elected official, but also the cost of benefits.
Day said that if the ordinance passed, the money would go back to taxed entities, or it could be used to hire an internal auditor, an outside firm to audit county funds, a comptroller, or something else.
One of the committee members, Linda Allison expressed concern about what the other counties reported after combining their offices.
“I wasn’t real impressed with the counties in comparison,” Allison said. “A lot of those counties were very low population, low-income areas, agricultural areas, and probably had a need to combine the collector/treasurer because they probably didn’t have the funds for paying for both positions, or didn’t have the need,” Allison said.
Day acknowledged that while most counties with the combined position were smaller than Craighead, Pulaski and Sebastian were larger.
As the conversation went on, other Justices of the Peace, as well as several county employees, including current collector Wes Eddington and treasurer Terry McNatt, joined the meeting. Stephanie Hoffman and Jenny Crisler, who both announced their intent to run for collector earlier this year, were also present.
In previous discussions of the resolution, Quorum Court members had brought up concerns about former Craighead County clerk Kade Holliday, who was convicted in 2022 of taking more than $1.5 million in county funds to subsidize his businesses.
“Everybody said, ‘Well, it’s not going to be safe,’ and, you know, ‘We’re going to be at risk of another Kade Holliday,'” Day said. “I want to remind you, we were on the exact same system. We had a collector and a treasurer when that thing happened, and so you can’t say that, you know, having those two people will prevent a Kade Holliday episode.”
Committee chairman Richard Rogers said if the combined office was implemented, there needed to be transparency and clarity on county finances, whether that was through an outside firm, regular audits, or something else.
The committee voted 3-1 to accept the results of the study and forward them to the full Quorum Court. Allison was the only ‘no’ vote. The committee then voted 3-0 to send the ordinance calling for an election to combine the offices to the full court, with Allison abstaining.
If the full court approves the ordinance calling for an election, the issue will go before voters in the 2026 election, with the offices to be combined in January 2031 if it passes.
“I truly don’t see the problem, putting it out there for the voters to vote on instead of us sitting here making that decision,” Justice of the Peace for District 13 Kevin Williams said. “If they so choose that, to save their county some money, then I’d say that’d be what they need to do. It’s up to the voters.”