The Faulkner County Quorum Court approved the 2024 county budget with a 6% cost of living adjustment, appointed a longtime Vilonia School District librarian to the regional library board and allowed Westrock Coffee Company and FarmaKeio to participate in the county’s tax back program at its Nov. 21 meeting. 

The proposed budget was the cause of some discussion and disagreement.

Justice of the Peace John Allison of District 3, which covers Vilonia, said he was concerned about the 6% cost of living adjustment for Faulkner County employees in the budget.

“I’ll be the wet blanket, I guess,” Allison said. “The numbers concern me.

“The last two years that I’ve been sitting on this court we have significantly raised a lot of salaries for a lot of county positions, and I think we’ve shown a willingness to do that this year as well.” 

Allison said he was concerned about how taxpayers would perceive the increase, and proposed a motion to lower the cost of living adjustment to 3.2%. The motion failed 8-3 and the budget was approved 9-2 as written; Justices Allison and Samuel Strain of District 4 were the only “no” votes. 

Justice of the Peace Tyler Lachowsky of District 4, which covers the Lake Conway area, said the budget committee chose a 6% cost of living adjustment based on the county treasurer’s recommendation.

Lachowsky also said the court added $90,000 to establish the Veterans’ Service Office in the county. 

“A majority of that cost is in personnel, but that’s something new to this budget that you’ll see and that is funded out of county general [funds],” Lachowsky said.

“We increased our maintenance budget by about $130,000, that’s about a 30% increase,” Lachowsky said. 

The budget also has $180,000 allocated for mental health services for the county jail, Lachowsky said. 

The court unanimously voted to approve the appointment of Cindy Stage to the Faulkner and Van Buren Regional Library Board. 

Allison, who is also a math teacher at Vilonia High School said, “Cindy is a good friend of mine. We’ve worked together for 10 years before she retired from Vilonia High school as the librarian, she’s got extensive experience in libraries and schools.”

“She’s a servant at heart. I’ve seen her … spend her money to buy kids things the whole time I was working with her,” Allison said.

Stage worked as a librarian in the Vilonia School District for 26 years and her location is part of why County Judge Allen Dodson appointed her to the board, which only has appointees from Conway, he said.

“It was an honor for me, no more than five minutes into my interview with her, for me to even be making the appointment,” Dodson said. “She’s quite impressive.”

Stage will replace Suzann Waggoner, who passed away Oct. 16.

The court also unanimously approved resolutions allowing Westrock Coffee Company and FarmaKeio Custom Compounding, two companies currently building facilities in Conway, to participate in the tax back program. 

The tax back program is a statewide tax incentive program that allows companies that create jobs in Arkansas to receive certain tax refunds after an endorsement from the local government, according to the Arkansas Economic Development Commission website. 

Jack Pillow, director of economic development for the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce, said Westrock Coffee Company is adding more jobs and increasing their investment in Faulkner County.

“Originally, they were looking at 250 jobs. Now they’re looking at 600 on top of that,” Pillow said.

Dodson said Westrock’s impact on the local economy “will be immense for many, many years.”

Pillow said FarmaKeio, a pharmaceutical company, is investing $2.29 million in Faulkner County. 

“They’re looking at hiring 74 people that were previously lost when US Compounding closed. Their average wage should be over $60,000,” Pillow said. “That’s 74 jobs, potentially 74 families that it’s impacting.” 

US Compounding previously owned and operated the pharmaceutical manufacturing plant purchased by FarmaKeio.