Clark County, Arkansas · ord-2025-21
Clark County 2026 — The Money Trail
Total appropriated across ~40 county funds for calendar year 2026, as adopted by the Quorum Court. Click any number to see exactly where it comes from. Where the trail goes dark, it becomes a numbered issue in the
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Cross-foots ✓ 24/24
Where it comes from — the thinner half of the record
▶Projected revenues by fund◐ Partial
The ordinance states projected revenue per fund — the 17 major funds below total ~$29.2M, and ~20 smaller funds bring the projection to roughly $29.9M (itemization pending, Docket #7). What the ordinance does not state is where each fund's revenue originates — that is the millage sheet, sales tax inventory, and treasurer's reports (Dockets #3 and #8).
$0 appropriated; ~$1.53M held unappropriated.
$0 appropriated; ~$468K held.
Now sourced from the state's 2025 millage book (for 2026 collections). County: 7.1 mills — road 3.0, library 1.0, hospital 1.0, college 1.0, plus small general/misc mills that split differently for city and rural residents (exact column mapping still being confirmed against the book's layout). City of Arkadelphia adds 5.0; Gurdon 5.4. Schools are the big share: Arkadelphia district 47.65, Gurdon 43.0. Total inside Arkadelphia city limits: 59.75 mills. A $100,000 home is assessed at 20% ($20,000), so one mill costs about $20 a year — 59.75 mills is roughly $1,195 before the homestead credit. Notable: the Arkadelphia school rate rose from 44.65 in the 2024 book to 47.65 in the 2025 book — 3.0 new bond mills.
At least two dedicated sales taxes are visible from the spending side (EDCCC economic development; Various Fire Departments fund). Rates, sunset dates, and enacting ordinances not yet ingested. This got more urgent in July 2026: local reporting says the county owes the state roughly $1.3 million in sales-tax rebate repayments — a news lead, not yet a document in this corpus. The enacting ordinances live in the county's online ordinance archive (Docket #9).
Highway turnback, court fees and fines, automation fees, and grant revenue are implied by the fund names but not itemized in the ordinance. Treasurer's reports and the legislative audit carry this detail.
Where it goes — $21,386,230 appropriated
▶General Fund1000$6,829,20132%✓ Sourced
Projected revenue $8,000,703 · 90% statutory cap $7,200,632 · appropriated $6,829,201 · cushion left $371,431. All 27 department totals sourced; line-item pages ingested for some, pending for others.
Department total sourced; line-item page not yet ingested. Salary schedule IS ingested: line deputies $43,398–$46,498 · sergeants $45,648–$50,927 · investigators $45,015–$51,257 · chief deputy $63,591. This is the deputy salary schedule as filed; the side-by-side with neighboring counties is Docket #6.
Total sourced; line detail pending. Jailers on salary schedule: $36,338–$37,338; administrator $43,285. See also the Jail Maintenance and Jail Construction funds.
Total sourced; line detail pending.
Total sourced; line detail pending. Court staff on salary schedule: clerk $46,000, deputies $34,725–$40,905.
▶Courthouse Maintenance0108$416,460✓ Sourced
▶Personal services$85,160✓ Sourced
▶Supplies$36,000✓ Sourced
▶Other services & charges$295,300✓ Sourced
Total sourced; line detail pending. Coordinator salaries $34,660–$44,581 on schedule.
▶County Clerk0101$314,622✓ Sourced
Total sourced; line detail pending.
▶County Judge0100$168,446✓ Sourced
One complete path to the floor, as a demonstrator of what full ingestion looks like.
▶Personal services$132,026✓ Sourced
▶Other services & charges$29,920✓ Sourced
11 justices of the peace at $300 per meeting, plus health insurance and operations.
Total sourced; line detail pending.
Total sourced; line detail pending.
Up from $33,750 in 2025 — an election year. Extra help alone: $5,000 → $45,000.
Total sourced; line detail pending.
Total sourced; line detail pending.
Total sourced; line detail pending.
Total sourced; line detail pending.
▶Road Fund2000$6,038,25828%✓ Sourced
Projected revenue $6,863,221; appropriated $6,038,258.
▶Supplies$2,548,70042% of fund✓ Sourced
Truck drivers $33,288–$51,692, operators $37,788–$60,043 on the salary schedule.
▶Other services & charges$538,800✓ Sourced
▶Sanitation / Solid Waste3009$1,899,2639%✓ Sourced
Projected revenue $3,067,887; appropriated $1,899,263; ~$862K unappropriated.
Includes waste disposal $250K, engineering $150K, professional services $175K.
The amount is sourced — a single ordinance line reading "INCENTIVES: $1,844,538." The tax behind it is a countywide half-cent sales and use tax, 100% remitted to EDCCC "to be used solely for economic development." Voters approved it June 12, 2007 for seven years and renewed it March 11, 2014 and June 8, 2021 for seven more each. Audited collections, 2008 through 2023: $25,431,732, between $1.36M and $1.96M a year (Clark County's state audits, each year's figure cited in the document library; the 2024 audit is not yet published). The county budgeted $3,717,325 more for 2025–2026. Who receives it, under what agreements, with what performance terms, is not in these documents. That trail is Docket #5.
▶9-1-1 (PSAP + reserve)3020 · 3409$1,087,9705%✓ Sourced
A further ~$1.01M sits unappropriated in the 9-1-1 reserve fund.
Dispatcher/matron positions $38,795–$55,935; director $45,398.
▶Jail funds (maintenance + 2005 construction)3405 · 3404$663,8913%✓ Sourced
Contracts alone are $351K of this.
Appropriated $469K of a $1.28M revenue projection; ~$687K unappropriated, plus the Margie Lou Ballew bequest fund holding ~$196K untouched. What restricts those balances is part of Docket #8.
▶Automation & cost funds (clerks, treasurer, collector, courts, recorder)$610,3783%◐ Partial
Fee-funded office accounts.
Derived, not transcribed: this is the remainder of the $610,378 automation-fund group after the Collector ($257,289) and Recorder ($234,239) lines. It covers roughly Treasurer ~$34K, District Court ~$25K, and smaller accounts. Exact line items pending ingestion of the ordinance's fund pages — Docket #7.
The amount is sourced, but this is only the county's slice of fire funding. Rural Arkansas fire departments are typically funded primarily through fire protection districts' own millage and dues, plus city budgets — the county pass-through is a slice, not the whole picture. The full fire map (district budgets + dues + city FD + this line) does not yet exist in public, navigable form. That is Docket #4, and it is a prerequisite for framing any fire-funding question honestly.
▶All other funds (defender, victim-witness, marina, trails, grants, courts, misc.)$869,6314%⚠ Ambiguous
Derived, not transcribed: this is the computed remainder between the ordinance's stated grand total ($21,386,230) and the funds itemized above. An earlier working estimate showed ~$769K here excluding the Public Defender fund; the ordinance's own fund pages will settle the exact split. Itemization pending — Docket #7.
Projected revenue $310,421; appropriated $98,590.
▶~20 smaller special funds (victim-witness, marina, trails, grants, courts, misc.)$771,04189% of fund⚠ Ambiguous Derived, not transcribed: the grand-total remainder after every itemized fund and the Public Defender. Fund-by-fund itemization pending — Docket #7.
Beside the county — separate governments, separate ledgers
The city's budget document is still not posted online — but its audited financials are, and they are now in the document library (FY2022–FY2024, plus the water & sewer system audit). FY2024, regulatory basis: general fund revenues $18.2M, expenditures $13.2M, year-end fund balance $2.3M. Budget line items and salaries remain a city hall records request.
▶Arkadelphia Public Schools (+ Gurdon)◐ Partial School millage IS the largest line on most residents' tax bills, and it is now sourced: Arkadelphia district 47.65 mills (25.0 M&O + 2.0 other M&O + 17.65 bond + 3.0 other bond), Gurdon 43.0. Both districts' FY2024 audits and the Arkadelphia district's bond official statements are in the document library. The 17.65 bond mills were voted at the 2015 school election; they repay $35.05M in 2021 and 2022 bonds (a refinancing of 2015 middle- and elementary-school bonds, plus a new elementary school finished in 2024), with $43.3M in principal and interest left at mid-2024, through May 2047. The 3.0 newer bond mills were voted November 18, 2025 for a separate $37.17M new-high-school bond, about $60 a year on a $100,000 home. District budget detail is the remaining gap.
The funding structure is now mapped: Clark County levies no fire millage (the state millage book shows none in the county breakdown), so rural departments run on dues, donations, and the county's $45,921 sales-tax pass-through, while the Arkadelphia FD is funded inside the city's budget. Departments identified so far: Arkadelphia FD, East Clark County Rural VFD, Okolona VFD, Whelen Springs VFD, and the Clark County Fire Association, a small 501(c)(3) that files only postcard returns. What remains offline: each department's dues schedule and finances — still the counter-visit half of Docket #4.
Municipal budgets, as available.