Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – The 2026 operating budget for Craighead County was approved Monday night.
The budget passed 12-1, with Garrett Barnes, Justice of the Peace for District 2, voting no. There were no comments from any Quorum Court members. Appropriation ordinances can be passed on one reading if 2/3 of a quorum court’s members vote to approve it, according to Arkansas law.
Barnes told JRN he voted no because he wanted more clarity on where taxes collected for improving roads would go. He clarified that he wanted to see taxes collected from smaller Craighead County cities used to improve roads in and around those smaller cities.
“My main reason for being a ‘no’ tonight is to send a signal that we need to be stronger and better partners for our cities,” Barnes explained. “I feel like we have a responsibility to remit back to where [taxes are being] generated.”
“[There is an] imbalance and disparity between where our county revenue is collected, which is mostly our cities,” he said.
The 2026 budget totals $59,808,690.70. The 2025 budget was $71,292,890.11.
The budget includes raises for all county employees, planning for a 27% increase in health insurance costs, an 11.5% increase in workers’ compensation, and a 33% increase in building insurance costs.
Other items include a possible expansion for the district court building, replacing windows in the Craighead County Courthouse Annex with more energy-efficient ones, and upgrading the county’s phone systems.
During the initial presentation of the budget, Craighead County Sheriff Marty Boyd said major expenses are expected in 2026 for the Craighead County Detention Center; however, he said they are not yet listed.
He previously told Quorum Court members that because the exact amount of money was unknown for these improvements, which included a new roof and chillers, they would later be proposed as an appropriation ordinance when the need arose.
“Myself and the judge talked about it, and because the cost is fluctuating so much right now, we decided to do that by appropriation when the time came,” Boyd previously said. “If we put it in the budget, we may be $100,000 short or over at that time, so we decided not to put it in the budget at that time.”
During public comments, Jonesboro resident Robin Martin said, in the future, she wanted to see data in the county budget comparing previous years’ budgets with the current one. She added that including this information would help the public and Justices of the Peace know if a department was “up or down” compared to previous years.
“I think we’re on the side of not enough,” Martin said. “These guys [Quorum Court members] could make educated decisions on where we are with the budget instead of voting blindly.”
Read the full budget here.