Story by DDNS Reporter Jerry Don Burton

February 23, 2026

The Craighead County Quorum Court adopted an annual transfer ordinance, heard a hot check report and responded to a public comment regarding rising poverty. 

Annual transfer appropriation ordinance

The annual transfer appropriation ordinance, adopted unanimously at the Tuesday, Feb. 23, Craighead County Quorum Court meeting, appropriated funds from special revenue accounts into the county general fund.

Craighead County Judge Marvin Day said the transfer ordinance is the first step of an annual cleanup process. 

“So that’s basically what we’re doing is we transfer money from one spot to the other to keep those balances whole, and the quorum court, on an annual basis, has to acknowledge, you’re not spending any new money, any additional money,” Day said. “Just acknowledging what we’ve done to keep the budget afloat.”

Day said, to think of it in simpler terms, it’s like they have 50 different checking accounts and the court appropriates money out of each of those accounts based upon an estimated revenue.

“Somebody may want to spend something in February, but their money doesn’t necessarily come in until September, October, and so we move money around to keep those balances in the positive, best we can,” Day said.

Hot check report

Also in new business, Charlene Davidson, a prosecuting attorney for the second judicial district of Arkansas, presented a hot check report, as required by state law. 

Davidson said while terminated in April 2021, the hot check program still takes in money the Craighead County Sheriff’s Office receives.

In 2025, Davidson said the hot check program:

• Received $10,217.51 from the Craighead County Sheriff’s Office, to be entered as payments received from defendants for the hot check program prior to 2021.
• Distributed $19,384.46 toward merchant restitution
• Dispersed $3,770 toward merchant fees, which is a fee that merchants can charge the defendant if they write a hot check.
• $2,899.95 in prosecutor fees, a statutory fee the office can charge for maintaining the program.

Davidson said the preceding fees were all previously ordered prior to 2021. She said the total check amount for 2025, not including journal entries, was $26,054.41. The current account balance for the hot check trust account is $28,653.41.

The court unanimously accepted the report as prepared.

Public comments

After Day opened the meeting for public comments, Jonesboro resident Robin Martin said she was concerned about rising poverty in Craighead County.

She said the poverty rate in Craighead County is 21.5%, almost double the 11% national rate and much higher than the 15.3% Arkansas poverty rate.

Martin said similarly sized Arkansas counties, such as Garland, Sebastian, Saline and Faulkner, also have poverty rates lower than Craighead.

Her data is nearly accurate with the latest census data from the American Community Survey. The national official poverty measure is 10.6%, while the Arkansas poverty rate is 15.5%.

“I don’t want to live in a district or a county that has a poverty rate of 20%,” Martin said. “I like Saline County’s 9% a whole lot better.”

District 11 Justice of the Peace Dan Pasmore said Craighead County’s rising population could be correlated to the rise in poverty.

“If you’ll check the population that moves into Jonesboro, there’s a lot of people that move from areas that are depressed, moving here for better opportunities,” Pasmore said. “They don’t always find it, but they’re coming here from other areas that are in worse shape than we are, and that’s driving ours up also.”

According to the United States Census Bureau, the estimated population in Craighead County rose from 111,242 in 2020 to 115,852 in 2024, an increase of 4,610.

Darrel Cook, district six justice of the peace, said he agreed with Pasmore.

“There’s a lot of rental opportunities here and there’s a lot of job opportunities, but sadly, some of the people moving here from other towns don’t want to take those jobs,” Cook said.

District Four Justice of the Peace Linda Allison said people with low income are attracted to Jonesboro when the city approves apartment complexes. She said this could also drive the poverty rate up.

Other business

In other business, the transportation and finance committees gave their reports.

Transportation Committee Chair and District 10 Justice of the Peace Steve Cline said the transportation committee met on Feb. 9. He said the committee, run by justices Garrett Barnes, David Tennison and Terry Couch, spoke with John James, the Craighead County road department superintendent, about current work projects and county road conditions following the recent snowstorm. 

The committee reviewed and approved a motion for a construction plan on Highway 141.

Finance Committee Chair and District Nine Justice of the Peace Josh Longmire said the finance committee also met on Feb. 9. Longmire said, at the meeting, Craighead County Tax Collector Wes Eddington provided a tax collection report. The report stated tax collection rose 16%, while delinquent personal taxes fell 12.7%.

Craighead County Treasurer Terry McNatt presented the January 2026 financial report and 2025 annual financial report at this meeting as well.

Tennison, district eight justice of the peace, motioned to move the next quorum court meeting date, originally scheduled for March 23, to avoid it falling during spring break week. The motion passed unanimously. 

The Craighead County Quorum Court will meet again at 5:30 p.m., March 16, after spring break.