Sharp County to pay off jail nearly a decade ahead of schedule; sales tax to end

Sharp County tax payers received some good news during the recent February Sharp County Quorum Court meeting after County Treasurer Wanda Girtman said the bond for the jail could be paid off more than nine years ahead of schedule.

“I do have a little bit of information, our bonds trustee, contacted me and at the end of the year our bond balance was $2,235,000. March 1 is bond payment day. Our payment is $650,000 they’re going to call $510,000,” Girtman said. “When these payments are done we’ll owe $1,075,000. In September when we make a payment again, we should be able to pay off the check.”

Girtman said she had reviewed paperwork showing the original scale for the bond which was not to be paid off until March of 2034.

“The trustee sees no problem with making that payment in September. We’re waiting on the lawyer who did our bond work, but chances are sometime in the summertime we will have to notify the state we’re going to have to stop collecting that (half-cent) sales tax. Right now, sales tax payments are two months behind, so even if we stopped collecting July 1., we will still receive a sales tax check in July and in August.”

Girtman also said there was an additional $395,000 that had been set aside and held in a special account in case the county was unable to make a payment, but those funds would be rendered as payment during the final payment.

“They’re thinking we will not need it (the sales tax). By Sept. 1 I should have enough money to make bond payments. When they started the bond, they set up a DSR Fund and it has $395,000,” Girtman said. “That money is sitting there in case for any reason we weren’t able to make a payment but when we go to make our final payment, that DSR money will move over and go in with the final payment. With that said, we’re only going to need about $700,000 to make that final payment and then some for interest. This has gone really well.”

When asked how long once the tax was stopped it would be before businesses were notified, Girtman said she was unsure and awaiting a response from the attorney as this was a “first” in paying off such a massive debt so far ahead of time.

Any remaining funds or money paid late by businesses who haven’t rendered payment prior to the cessation of the tax will be rolled over into a maintenance fund for the jail.

As reports continued, County Collector Michelle Dagget said tax statements had been sent out, Assessor Kathy Nix said new construction was picking up including new homes, chicken houses and more.

Sheriff Shane Russell provided an update regarding the sheriff’s office.

“Body Scanner update, we’ve got it up and running. We got something within the first hour after training that we might not have caught otherwise. I’m not going to take a lot of your time, there are two things I wan to mention, the grant we received in 24, total grant received was $225,864,” Russell said. “The reason I want to bring that up is in the total grants received, $180,872 was because of our jail administrator Edith was able to write it in such a way we didn’t get deductions. The one we received for $75,000 from the department of public safety, it took them a few days to go over and we didn’t have any deduction taken off of it. She does an excellent job.”

Russell also noted the jail ranked well for compliance with jail standards.

“Another thing, the compliance report for 2024, compliance for jail standards is timely and there is a lot to it. They’ve have gone above and beyond. In December compliance was at 99.68 percent, that’s really close to 100. year-end average was 90.35 percent. I don’t know if we’d be number one in the state, but we’d be really close to it,” Russell said. “With that being said, a lot of jails fall into 50 to 60 percent. If you’re at 80 or above you’re in good shape. Our jail staff is doing a good job.”

When asked about issues at the jail, Russell said he was able to connect with representatives of South Build Group during the recent Sheriff’s Convention and told them there were issues.

“I told them the last time we talked was Dec. 7, I’d emailed weekly but they got him on the phone and we’re making headway. I’m going to wait until the end of the week and reach out again if I haven’t heard back,” Russell said.

Humidity continues to be an issue for the jail.

Moving on to new business, Judge Mark Counts said there was a need to elect a delegate for an upcoming conference. J.P. Briana DiIorio volunteered to attend.

Judge Counts turned the court’s attention to a court order regarding adding Susan Adam to the Sharp County Library Board. The court approved the addition.

Business then turned back to Girtman who said there was a server which needed to be replaced in her office. To replace the server approximately $36,000 is needed. Girtman said she did not have the funds in her budget and even if she could find a place to make cuts, she could not come up with the money through her department alone.

The court voted to approve the creation of a line item in the county general budget to purchase the equipment needed for the office.

Brief discussion was also held regarding two employees of one of the Sharp County Libraries, however; the library the employees would be retiring from, nor the names of the employees were stated.

Replacement employees would be determined by another entity at a later time.

Kim Lavespere with Family Center Treatment Court (FCTC) was present to speak to the court about grants.

“We have our grant that helps our court through the DOJ and through there we have certain course regulations we have to follow. We’ve recently hired a data analysis company to do a report for us because we’re going to be resubmitting. We’ve made two installments to that contracted entity and have recently found out there has to be Grant Award Modification (GAM) and a financial report that has to be approved before we can start working with this company.”

Lavespere said the FCTC was requesting the two installments that have already been paid to be replaced into the FCTC’s account by the county and once the GAM is approved, the FCTC will return the county their funds.

When asked what a timeline looked like and what the amount of funds were, Lavespere said approximately one month for the two installments a total of $8,333.34.

Girtman said the loan could be made from county general to the DOJ gray fund and then move the money back when the time came.

Lavespere said this would enable the GAM to be completed and the financial report to be approved.

The court voted to approve moving funds on a temporary basis until.

The meeting was adjourned, the Sharp County Quorum Court meets the second Monday of each month at 6 p.m. at the Sharp County Courthouse in Ash Flat.