The 2025 budget is approved by the Little Rock Board of Directors

Little Rock, Arkansas – The Little Rock Board of Directors has officially approved the 2025 budget following weeks of deliberation.

A suggested schedule adjustment for Little Rock firemen was one of the main issues that was holding things up, but it ended up being much more.

“Up until today, the primary problem was a scheduling conflict with the 48-96… We’ve discussed that in order to get there, we want to see the workforce reach about 70% before continuing till this morning,” Mayor Frank Scott Jr. stated. “We received a phone call that it was no longer solely about the schedule, but also about money.”

In light of this, his negotiators and the union called Mayor Scott in the middle of the special meeting to inform him that the city’s fire department had approved their new contract.

The fire department agreed to a contract that included a 5% rise over the following two years, but no schedule changes until they received a vote of 70% of the personnel.

Despite the fact that an agreement was reached, Little Rock Firefighters President Matthew Stallings expressed his dissatisfaction with today’s decision.

According to him, there are also additional problems that need to be resolved, such as the living conditions in the present working sites.

Director Capi Peck addressed some of these concerns on Monday, highlighting them.

“The older fire stations have a rat infestation and bat infestations which is a huge health hazard, and I mean the list goes on and on,” stated Peck.

The Little Rock Fire Department’s resistance won the war, even though it didn’t win the battle.
This came about as a result of Peck’s pledge to resolve the issues raised and find a method to use Little Rock dollars to resolve the fire department’s problem.

“I believe the board is now paying attention to you, and I will give the firefighters my whole focus in order to resolve this issue. That’s my pledge, my pledge, and my pledge,” Peck declared.

Members also discussed the mayor’s sales tax, which failed a second time, during Thursday’s meeting.

Several directors stated that if the sales tax had been approved to improve public safety, the discussions leading up to this meeting might not have taken so long.

At Thursday night’s meeting, other community members also spoke in support of the board’s decision, but they also stated that going forward, the group should be more united than divided.