JP Coger's Washington County UPdate 11/8/26
Welcome to this week’s Washington County Update!
Judge Deakins’ Airport Board Reappointment of Tom Lundstrum - On my part, still a work in progress. _________________________________________
2027 COUNTY BUDGET: PLEASE REVIEW AND SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
Here is the latest proposed 2027 county budget in spreadsheet format. This will likely be voted on Tuesday evening at Finance & Budget.
According to JP Kyle Lyons, Chair of the Finance & Budget Committee, the proposal would:
Base departmental funding on the 2026 budget.
Remove all capital line items.
Adjust funding for health insurance increases.
Provide county employees a 3.6% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), with no merit or step increases.
You can read JP Lyons’s full explanation here, including his reasoning for the proposed COLA.
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👀 Looking Ahead - All meetings are open to the public. Unless otherwise noted, meetings will be held at the Washington County Courthouse, 280 N. College Avenue, Fayetteville.
November Regular Quorum Court Meeting: Thursday, November 19 at 6:00 p.m.
County Services Committee Meeting: Monday, November 30 at 6:00 p.m.
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Washington County Meetings Week of 11/8/26:
Washington County Election Commission Meeting: Monday, November 9 at 1:00 p.m., 2721 S. Brink Drive, Fayetteville, Arkansas. The agenda includes:
Canvas, Remake & Tabulation of Absentee Ballots
Tabulation of Provisional Ballots - In Person Voting
Approval of 12/1/26 General Election Runoff Ballot
Sign Notice of Election for the 12/1/26 Runoff
Other business
Meetings are live-streamed on the County Election Commission’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpX-GrzfCvEF0PszfEr6V3Q
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Washington County Quorum Court County Services Committee Meeting: Monday, November 9 at 6:00 p.m. (In all committee meetings, the public comment time is at the end of the meeting - after decisions have been made. There will also be public comment periods of 12 minutes each before we vote on any ordinance or resolution.)
Read the complete Agenda HERE.
The meeting will be live-streamed on the County’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/washcoar
Item 5: Juvenile Detention Report - Chris Tinsley
October was the busiest month in the six-month summary. It had the most admissions and the highest reported average daily population since the report’s comparison began in May. October’s daily headcount ranged from 14 to 22, peaking on October 15. The month ended with 17 youth in custody.
Nearly all October admissions were from Washington County. The report lists 39 admissions from Washington County and one from Madison County. It also reports 25 transports, including 20 local and five out of town.
Admissions and average stays were higher than in the prior-year comparison. October 2026 recorded 40 admissions over 31 days, compared with 27 over 30 days in the 2025 report. The reported average stay rose from 13.66 to 16.61 days. The comparison covers October 1–30 in 2025 and the full month in 2026.
Item 6: Sheriff’s Report - Jay Cantrell
(I am keeping a spreadsheet to help keep up with this data)
Intakes fell from 987 to 850, while the daily average high count rose by 103. The jail logged 2,358 more bed-days even though the October reporting period was one day shorter.
The mix of people held in the jail shifted from a year ago. On an average day, the jail held 65 fewer pretrial detainees and 49 more state prisoners than in the prior-year comparison. Pretrial remained the largest group listed, averaging 354 people a day.
Calls for service were down about 17% in both comparisons. The Sheriff’s Office reported 1,905 calls, compared with 2,301 in the previous period and 2,299 in the prior-year column.
The report leaves a question about what drove the increase in jail population. It shows 850 intakes and 22 people sent to prison, but it gives no total for releases or average length of stay. Those figures would help explain why the jail population rose while intakes declined.
Item 8: Resolution for Tyson Tax Back Program - County ordinances require proposed resolutions and ordinances to be submitted at least seven business days before the meeting. That did not happen here. Chair Ecke added this resolution to the agenda on Thursday, after the submission deadline. I have objected to its placement on the agenda because of that.
When we expect others to follow county ordinances and laws, we owe the public the same standard in how we conduct county business. Once you start making exceptions and looking for ways to "get around" our own laws, that's a very slippery slope. I see it happen on a fairly regular basis. Applying our deadlines consistently gives Quorum Court members and the public time to review proposals before they come up for consideration.
Item 9: Ordinance Requiring Vendor Relationship Disclosure? - I do not know what the thinking is behind this proposal, but it is poorly written and incomplete.
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The Washington County Quorum Court Finance and Budget Committee Meeting: Tuesday, November 10 at 6:00 p.m.
Read the complete Agenda HERE.
This meeting will be live-streamed on the County’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/washcoar
Item 4: Treasurer’s Report - Bobby Hill — County General needs another $9.98 million in property tax receipts in November and December to reach its 2026 projection. It received $9.35 million in those two months last year.
Sales tax growth is nearly flat. The county’s share of the one-cent tax is down slightly, and the jail tax is up just 0.6% through October.
Item 5: Employee’s Insurance Report - Charles Angel – The employee insurance fund ended October with about $96,000, down from about $308,000 at the end of September. The fund’s ledger went roughly $359,000 negative during the month before a stop-loss reimbursement came in.
Claims payments were slightly lower in October. The bigger change was a drop in money coming into the fund. I’d like to know how much of that reflects the timing of contributions and reimbursements and how much reflects a funding gap.
Item 6: Comptroller’s Report - Paul Sherman — Employee insurance is approaching its spending limit. The county had about $1.26 million left in the 2026 insurance budget after October, and it spent about $1.59 million in October alone. I’d like to see what claims and reimbursements the county expects before year-end and how it plans to pay those bills.
The jail’s budget balance and its unappropriated balance answer different questions. About $6.85 million remained in the jail’s spending budget after commitments, while about $564,000 remained unappropriated.
The public should be able to see the full cost of CRI in one place. The October report shows spending in the CRI fund, matching expenses in County General, and a separate reduction in the General Reserve for the CRI match. A single accounting would show how much came from grants, how much came from the county, and how much has actually been spent.
Item 10: Ordinance Establishing 2027 Budget - I do have concerns and questions about the budget which I will address in the meeting Tuesday night.
What it controls
The ordinance would adopt Washington County’s 2027 budget, authorize spending by department and fund, and set rules for moving money after the budget passes. The most important question is whether the transfer language clearly preserves Quorum Court control over salaries, debt service, and interfund transfers. One sentence requires an ordinance for those transfers, while the next allows transfers from certain categories “within and into all categories.”
📊 Washington County Jail Data Dashboard
⚖️ Detention Center Data. Read the most recent Inmate
Population Analysis HERE.
Read the Detainee Summary HERE.
Sheriff’s Office reports — November 6, 2026
702 people in jail · 310 held pretrial
People currently detained had spent an average of 201 days in jail. The reported high population count was 710.
Population breakdown | People |
Pretrial detainees | 310 |
State prisoners | 244 |
Federal prisoners | 84 |
Men | 618 |
Women | 84 |
Listed as experiencing homelessness | 90 |
These figures underscore the need to examine detention lengths, state-prison transfers, and opportunities for appropriate pretrial release with support and supervision as part of addressing overcrowding.
🔎 Public Data Resources
Detailed reports are available here:
Detainee Charge Report:https://www.washingtoncountyar.gov/government/departments-f-z/sheriff/detention-information/detainee-charge-report
You can check the “Calls for Service” board here.
Here’s a list in alphabetical order to search for people.
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🧾 County Bid Postings as of 11/7/26:
Emergency Management Fleet Vehicles — Bid 2026-22
Washington County DEM is seeking bids for a Chevrolet Tahoe and a Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD diesel, with decals and emergency warning equipment installed. Earlier this year, the county solicited the same two types of vehicles for Emergency Management under Bid 2026-17, which was awarded by Order 2026-117 to Superior Chevrolet GMC.
The cost for the Tahoe = $67,924.28 and the price for the Silverado 2500-HD = $80,787.50 (per the bid tabulations).
What happened after that award? Were either of the vehicles ordered or delivered? Is the new bid intended to replace all or part of the earlier purchase, or would it add two more vehicles to the fleet?
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Washington County has 20 job postings
This week’s listings include 17 full-time positions, two part-time law clerk positions, and one temporary election poll worker position. All are listed as open until filled.
The openings include five Road Department equipment operator positions, as well as jobs in 911 communications, emergency management, adult and juvenile detention, juvenile probation, drug court counseling, youth development, and Sheriff’s Office maintenance. The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is hiring a deputy prosecutor, a paralegal, and a juvenile case coordinator. The Prosecuting Attorney’s and Public Defender’s offices each have a part-time law clerk opening.
Please share this link with anyone who’s looking for work or considering a career change. You may help someone find a job they hadn’t heard about.
See the full list and application details.
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I look forward to any questions or comments you may have.
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— Beth Coger
Justice of the Peace, District 9
Washington County Quorum Court
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