TEXARKANA, Ark. - Plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking higher pay for police officers issued an ultimatum Monday after the city Board of Directors pulled a proposed plan off the agenda of its regular meeting.
Either the Board, during the meeting, was to schedule a workshop on the issue and direct City Manager Kenny Haskin to create contingency staffing plans, or else the plaintiffs on Tuesday would direct their attorney to notify the judge in the case that settlement negotiations are at an impasse, plaintiffs' representatives told Haskin and the Board. The demands came in an email to Haskin made available to news media and in comments to the Board during Monday's meeting.
The Board took no such action, though Mayor Allen Brown encouraged the Board to schedule a workshop and Assistant Mayor Linda Teeters said she was open to continued discussion and compromise.
Earlier in the day, a pay plan sponsored by Teeters, which had been scheduled for a final reading and possible vote, was removed from the meeting's agenda. Haskin said the item was pulled because not all Board members would be attending the meeting and all wanted their voices heard on the matter. Ward 3 Director Steven Hollibush was absent from the meeting.
At issue is the fate of a pair of quarter-cent sales taxes approved by voters more than 20 years ago to fund keeping Arkansas-side police and firefighter pay at parity with that in Texarkana, Texas. Pay parity has been a continual issue since, with citizens and employees who say the tax revenues have been mismanaged at odds with city officials who say they are insufficient.
In December 2017, a group of city residents filed suit against then-Mayor Ruth Penney-Bell and Haskin to force Police Department pay parity with a court ruling.
The city has argued that the parity taxes are against the state constitution because they effectively let another entity - Texarkana, Texas - set the the Arkansas side's pay policy. Miller County Circuit Judge Kirk Johnson may rule that the parity taxes can no longer be collected. Last year the taxes generated about $2.26 million in revenue.
In a hearing July 1, Johnson accused city officials of "undermining the will of the people" and warned of possible consequences.
"If this court finds this unconstitutional it appears to me that a number of things may occur. We may lose police officers. We may lose firefighters. We may lose money that would have gone to repair streets. We may need to lay off police officers, may need to lay off firefighters. We may need to lay off administrators," Johnson said.
The ordinance sponsored by Teeters would tie police and firefighter pay raises of various amounts to how much parity tax revenue and reserve funds are available in a given year. A proposal by the Police Association takes a similar approach using different benchmarks.
The Police Association has rejected the measure removed from Monday's agenda, and Fire Chief David Fletcher has requested that Fire Department pay be considered separately from the Police Department's. During the meeting, Brown also said he could not accept the plan because it moves the city "down the wrong road" and could get the situation "back where we started."
Brown encouraged a meeting among all stakeholders this week and said the Board should consider giving police officers and firefighters an immediate 2% raise.
The plaintiffs' demands were for a workshop to discuss settlement within five days, as well as a staffing contingency plan for the possibility of layoffs if the parity taxes are declared unconstitutional, including how to provide security and emergency services to Texarkana Regional Airport.
Police Chief Robert Harrison described the loss of police services possible if a loss of parity tax revenue led to layoffs.
Response times would increase and only the most serious calls for service would be answered, Harrison said. Officers are under enough stress without having to worry about losing their jobs, he said, adding that he is hesitant to fill three vacancies on the force not knowing whether he would soon have to lay those officers off. Harrison suggested a 2% pay raise for all city employees and appealed for a permanent solution.
"I'm asking you, I'm even begging you tonight to come to a conclusion about parity," he said.
Teeters asserted that the Board is open to compromise.
"Nobody on this Board wants that tax to go away," she said.
In other business, the Board conducted a public hearing and voted unanimously to give the Police Department permission to apply for a federal law enforcement grant called the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant.
If awarded the grant, the Police Department would get about 67% of the funds, $10,941, and the Miller County Sheriff's Office would get the remainder, $5,389. The police plan to use the funds to buy six laptop computers.
The Board also approved the purchase of a crew cab one-ton pickup for the Public Works Department's Streets Division. The city will buy the truck at a cost of $36,234 from McClarty Ford in Texarkana, Texas.
The Board's next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 3.