Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Dec. 17, 2024 – Quorum Court members set the 2025 rates of taxation for Craighead County during its Monday meeting.

With no major changes from the previous year, the appropriation ordinance to establish 2025 rates of taxation passed without discussion.

According to the ordinance, the tax rate to be levied on all taxable personal and real property in Craighead County for the tax year of 2024 to be collected in the year 2025 shall be as follows:

Craighead County, total is 7.10 mills

  • County General – 4 mills
  • County Road – 2.10 mills
  • County Library – 1 mil

City of Jonesboro, total is 2 mills

  • Jonesboro Police – 0.50 mills
  • Jonesboro Fire – 0.50 mills
  • Jonesboro Library – 1 mil

Craghead County Schools

  • Bay School District – 41.70 mills
  • Brookland School District – 38.53 mills
  • Buffalo Island Central School District – 40 mills
  • Jonesboro School District – 33.1 mills
  • Nettleton School District – 38.58 mills
  • Riverside School District – 40.89 mills
  • Valley View School District – 42.5 mills
  • Westside Consolidated School District – 35.42 mills
  • Greene County Tech School District – 37.49 mills

Cities in Craighead County

  • Bay – 4 mills
  • Black Oak (Real) – 2 mills
  • Black Oak (Personal) – 2 mills (was 1.40 mills in 2024)
  • Bono – 2 mills
  • Brookland – 0.00 mills
  • Caraway – 1.8 mills
  • Cash (Real) – 1.1 mills
  • Cash (Personal) – 2.5 mills
  • Egypt – 1.6 mills
  • Lake City – 1.6 mills
  • Monette – 1.8 mills

The court also passed a resolution to approve the Solid Waste Disposal Authority proposed 2025 budget, which totaled $6.9 million.

It also approved the reappointments of Kailey Luster and Sydney Ford to the Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library Board, both of whom were completing their first partial term. With the approval, they will begin their first full five-year terms on Jan. 2, 2025, which will expire on Jan. 2, 2030.

Next, the court discussed American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Sub-Award grants.

After the County made as many upgrades as they could to public spaces, such as county offices and the Craighead County and Lake City Courthouses, it was left with $4.5 million in ARPA money, Craighead County Judge Marvin Day said. Any money from ARPA must be obligated to a project or projects by the end of 2024.

Day said the county was considering providing funding to two projects.

The first project was a workforce training center for adults by Arkansas State University. The State of Arkansas has already awarded $7.5 million to the project, with funds coming from the Higher Industry Readiness through Education Development (HIRED) program.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and the Arkansas Department of Commerce awarded Arkansas State University and ASU-Newport the $7.5 million Nov. 14, in partnership with Arkansas Northeastern College, to focus on advanced manufacturing, food processing, and steel workforce development.

“The state is using this very same pot of money that we’re have leftover. So, we know it’s an eligible project,” Day said. “Number one, the numbers that I’ve been told is they’re looking at somewhere between $20 million and $40 million to develop this.”

The second project that Day noted was for a new industrial recruit by Jonesboro Unlimited and City Water and Light, which already received a $2 million grant award for developing Jonesboro Unlimited property for the project.

“They’re trying to use this money to grow our job base,” he explained.

Day also noted that both of entities have accepted the responsibility of doing the paperwork correctly, so that the county would not be responsible to repay the federal debt.

“I think both of those entities are capable of being able to do that,” Day added. “I think they could do it right, but also if they do it wrong, they have the ability to pay it.”

Justice of the Peace Darrel Cook said he would like to see the money go to small towns across the county.

“I personally would rather see that money than go to towns like Caraway, Egypt, and Bono, because money to those little towns means a lot,” Cook said. “Those two organizations you mentioned, they’re wonderful, but they have the money and these little towns… in my opinion, it would be a shot in the arm to these little towns or communities to have access to that money.”

Barnes also requested more details on the two projects Day spoke about.

“I feel like it’d be totally appropriate that, if they would like $2 million or $2.5 million or however it gets split up each, they would come and give us what they had in mind to do with it exactly. Make some printouts that we can study prior to the meetings,” he said.

However, Day said the county had until Dec. 31 to get all the paperwork signed and turned in, therefore a decision has to be made quickly.

After the meeting Day said that he hopes to be able to get the contracts signed by Friday.

“So, the government put those deadlines, not us, because we’d have found something to spend it on and do [with it] if they hadn’t,” Day said. “They’ve just got such a grip on it. This is really hard because you want to find a good project. I could have bought a tractor trailer load of hand sanitizer, but we don’t need that kind of stuff now. It’s just that you want to do something that you can look back on and go, ‘That’s where we spent that.’”

Although Day said he would like to see it go to the little towns, it just wasn’t feasible at this point.

In addition, this was Justice of the Peace Barbara Weinstock’s last Quorum Court meeting, as she is retiring. She has served on the court for 27 years representing District 5.

During the announcements, Weinstock thanked her family and the court for their support during her service. Day thanked her as well.

“You have you have set the bar high for everybody for many years of the wonderful and insightful questions that you have had and how much you’ve taken care of the people you represent, and we are very thankful for that,” Day said.