BY JANET WILSON

Staff Writer 04/16/2003

March was not a good month in terms of revenue coming into county coffers, according to White County Treasurer Waylon Heathscott.

"We hope April gets better," he told members of the White County Quorum Court on Tuesday night during its regular monthly meeting.

In spite of the bleak review of county finances, Heathscott said the county recently received over $111,000 from the State for housing its inmates in the White County Detention Center.

"That was one of things dragging us down," he commented.

As of March 15, there were 15 convicted felons being house in the county facility. The total jail population as of that date was 118 inmates.

Speaking on behalf of the budget and finance committee, Justice of the Peace Harvey Goad told the quorum court that, overall, department heads are doing a good job in holding to the budget. He said that during its most recent meeting several requests pertaining to funding were made, including one from Bill Haynie, chairman of the 911 board asking for $600 to pay for a revenue study to be conducted by the Commercial Mobile Radio System (CMRS).

During a presentation to the quorum court, Haynie said the revenue study would help to determine whether or not White County is receiving accurate reimbursement for surcharges added to land lines and cellular telephones that help provide funding for the 911 system.

"We think White County has been shorted quite a bit," Haynie said referring to the fact that although recent data shows significant growth in White County, the amount the county receives from the surcharges has seen very little fluctuation.

He estimated that approximately 80 percent of the local population owns a cell phone and said a five percent surcharge is billed on land lines.

Based on a 50 cent surcharge per cell phone, Justice of the Peace Ed Land calculated a rough estimate of $250,000 per month. However, Haynie then explained that the county is only reimbursed 38 percent of the total revenue generated from surcharges on both cell phones and land lines based on the population of the county. He told the court that the revenue study could result in a significant adjustment to the county's reimbursement.

Another ambition of the 911 board cited by Haynie was to have the county digitally mapped.

"If you're lost in the woods and you have a cell phone, you can call 911 and the sheriff's department will be able to tell within feet where you are," he said of the benefits of digital mapping. "Currently all 911 calls made from cell phones go to the Searcy Police Department."

He said the board received one bid of $38,850 to digitally map the county.

"We're looking for funds to offset the cost," he explained.

Haynie concluded his report by telling the court that the board received 22 applications for the 911/OES Coordinator's position. He said the board recently narrowed the field to the top four candidates and plans to conduct individual interviews Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

He said the board currently does not plan to make a decision on who will get the job Thursday night, but told the court that an individual could be selected for the position in approximately one week.