Arkansas Blog

The Highway Department and the Legislature have thumbed their noses at MILLIONS of Federal Dollars we're either losing or are being restricted because of not having open container laws and primary safety belt laws that are in effect all over the nation...not to mention that they SAVE LIVES. 3/4 of the 16 to 20 year olds dead in car wrecks last year were not wearing seat belts. Instead...they want grocery money...YIKES!

Every dollar of the surplus should go back to the people who paid the taxes. The ones who paid the most should get the most back. Give it back right now. If it's left in there the leg will throw it away. We all know that. No "rainy day fund"...We want OUR money back! We were overcharged!

wouldn't we be better off with tolls to pay for the interstates? we could even lower the state income tax to offset the cost to the taxpayer? that way the people who are directly using the roads would have to pay for their use, including out-of-state 18-wheelers that pass through the state tearing up our roads and not paying to repair them.

Excellent point IWTYT! Plus, the AHTD waste tons of dollars yearly. They have turned back thousands of grant dollars because of mishandling.
Hopefully the new governor will put replacing Flowers at the top of his list.

Anon 7:24,
Don't look to the republicans on the november ballot to give you your money back. ASA! has already said that he wants to keep half of it. and Gunner Delay has already said he wants to use the surplus to build more jails. You can hope for a refund, but I don't think it will matter if you kept your receipt!

I have really not heard this proposal, so I will offer it here. One reason for a surplus is because the state pays its employees 10% - 20% below market wage. I say take part of the money and give state employees an across the board x% increase. As inefficient as state governmnet is, the People still have been getting much more bang for their buck for years. Except for the annual 2.5% COLA (most of which is eaten up in taxes), state employees have not recieved a pay grade increase in years. If State of Arkansas has surplus money, it comes from the backs and pocket books of state employees.

Kids we missed the boat when Clinton and Rodney Slater were in office. I-49 needs to be built (Fort Smith To Texarkana) and I-540 in NWA needs another lane in both directions. Also, I-69 through South Arkansas could have been funded at that time. Now where are we? For new interestate construction in this state (49 & 69), tolls are the olny thing that makes sense. The population of Arkasnas is just too small to contribute to a pay as you go system.

(Fort Smith To Texarkana) and I-540 in NWA needs another lane in both directions. Also, I-69 through South Arkansas could have been funded...
Posted by: Chuck

Our trip from northeast Arkansas to Little Rock still starts with the first hour driving on a 1948-era 2-lane and you're wanting to add more lanes to an existing Interstate! With all that money in NWA, let them build it themselves!

Let's get the basics done first. With this week's 50th birthday of the Interstate system we still don't have a 4-lane finished from Little Rock to St. Louis!

Hey -- at least you guys have something! Southeast Arkansas needs roads too, ya know!

State employees carry the weight of tax burden in Arkansas?

We need to address the growth of state government, which over the past decade increased faster than any sector of private or public business. Why as taxpayers do we go into a DF&A office with a dozen windows, only to have two working and eight or ten on breaktime? Every working person should get a COLA, not just government employees. Lower taxes are the key to growth. Our taxes feed the monster of state government which is the single largest employer in Arkansas.

With gasoline approaching three dollars per gallon, would it be more relief than a rebate, which for a majority of Arkansans might approach a couple of hundred bucks, to take the state tax off gasoline for a set period of time even a 90 day moratorium would save taxpayers more than any rebate, based upon the current collection of state taxes on gasoline.

4th in tax burden, 48th in per capita income says it all.

Arkansas Government Employment Is Still Expanding

(May 2006) Nine years ago then state Sen. Jodie Mahoney, D-EI Dorado, challenged a finding by the Murphy Commission, a Policy Foundation project, that found total Arkansas government employment had expanded in recent decades. In a statement shortly before Christmas 1997, Mahoney challenged the Policy Foundation's use of part- and full-time government employees to calculate total Arkansas government employment. (Associated Press, Saturday Dec. 20, 1997, El Dorado News-Times).

The Policy Foundation, relying on monthly Arkansas Employment Security Department (AESD) employment reports, noted in December 1997 that state government employed more than 60,000 Arkansans in full- and part-time positions. Mahoney, relying on data compiled by the Bureau of Legislative Research, argued only 45,727 of those were full-time employees in November 1997.

Yet non-seasonally adjusted employment data reveals the upward trend identified by the Policy Foundation in 1997 has continued. Federal employment has declined while Arkansas state and local government employment, including K-12 public education, has continued to expand:

December 1997

Federal Government 21,200
State Government 63,000
Local Government 104,000
State & Local Government 167,000
Total Government 188,200

March 2006

Federal Government 20,500
State Government 71,500
Local Government 119,500
State & Local Government 191,000
Total Government 211,500

Wal-Mart has 44,368 employees in Arkansas, Tyson Foods employs 24,042 workers. Arkansas needs three times the number of employees to run an inefficient over taxing state government.

Not so fast there. Arkansans ranks 49th in the amount of taxes we pay each year. that is not a lot.

DcNwa, I agree. You are exactly right that our state governmernt is entriely too large. I still say that a large part of this problem is that the state will hire two or three poorly qualified persons at a below market wage to do a job that one compenent person could do. This is the reason the Feds and private corps can operate with fewer employees. They compete for the most qualified. The state hires the leftovers. (wait a minute, I resemble that remark!) Seriously, for the most part it is true. If the state would offer a competitive salary and benefits package, we could attract better employess and cut the riff raff.

My apologies. I actually know how to spell government and employees correctly.

to do a job that one compenent person could do.

*sigh*

I'd just like to point out once again....THERE IS NO SURPLUS! We have more liabilities than excess revenue.

The only reason to build roads in South Arkansas is so that those people who have a choice of where to live can get out faster.

It makes no sense to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into infrastructure to serve ghost towns.

Highway money and highway commissioners should be based on population and real need. It should be spent on Northwest Arkansas, Central Arkansas, Northest Arkansas, and North Central Arkansas. Any dollar of highway money spent south of Saline/Garland County (expcept Clark, Union, and Miller) is a waste of time and money.

Tell Dan Flowers and his arrogant Commissioners to raise their own revenues. They always remind the Ledge that they are an independent constitutional agency not subject to legislative meddling, so let them requisition the funds they want. Or, they could try another unconstitutional perpetual bond scheme that would deprive voters of oversight.

It's sad that we continue to be one of the poorest states in the country and open forums like this illustrate why, bickering and infighting gets us nowhere.

What we need to do is the same thing any business would do in trouble. Identify key business, spending and performance metrics that are shared publicly (instead of spinning the Rep/Dem agendas) and then use these make people accountable at every level.

Every business has some type of worker productivity metric for their proceses, which can highlight under-performers and provide guidance to fix the real issues. I think we can all agree we pay in more more than we receive back.

This would take bold leadership to make government responsible and accountable to its constituents.

Wonder if anyone has the leadership to step up to the challenge?