Hutchinson says state's economy is strong

The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen CONFERENCE ADDRESS: Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson addresses the Association of Arkansas Counties' annual conference Thursday at the Hot Springs Convention Center.
The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen CONFERENCE ADDRESS: Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson addresses the Association of Arkansas Counties' annual conference Thursday at the Hot Springs Convention Center.

Despite the national conversation of a possible economic downturn, Arkansas has "nothing to worry about," Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson told the Association of Arkansas Counties' 51st Annual Conference Thursday at the Hot Springs Convention Center.

"The state of the economy in Arkansas is strong," he said. "We have a good 3.4 percent unemployment rate, we created 90,000 jobs, and we have a stimulus package that other states will be envious of," Hutchinson told the conference.

Hutchinson exemplified a stimulus package as having lower taxes and putting more money in individuals' pockets to spend in their communities. He said it is also the highway construction that is putting more money in contractors' pockets, so they can hire more workers.

He added the addition of casinos in the state is also part of a stimulus package.

"This is something I didn't ask for, but I guess somebody voted for and we've got it," he said, "and that is casinos. You think about the hundreds of millions of dollars that's being invested in Hot Springs, in West Memphis and in Pine Bluff. Thousands and thousands of construction jobs, and now it looks like Pope County is moving that direction. Like it or not, that is an economic stimulus for our state that's going to create a lot of jobs in the next year or so, and so I'm excited about our economy where we're going."

Hutchinson said the most impactful item to rural communities in the past legislative session is the highway funding plan.

"It is the largest in the history of Arkansas," he said. "It is the biggest opportunity in our state to sustain growth, to solidify the funding to our counties in our cities, for regular highway funding dollars and street assistance, and it gives us the opportunity to expand our connecting Arkansas program to get some of those major four lanes and connectors done that we've been needing to have done for a long time."

Hutchinson said the first part of the highway funding bill will go into effect Oct. 1, and will immediately provide counties more highway and road needs funds than before.

He said the second part of the bill is the extension of a half-cent sales tax that will be on the ballot in November 2020.

"Even though I'm not on the ballot next year, I will be campaigning next year, and I will be campaigning for the half-cent extension. The counties' funding for roads will diminish substantially if that half-cent sales tax, that is currently on the books, is not extended."

In addition to the highway funding plan, Hutchinson said another action he has taken that is equally important to rural communities is increasing teacher pay by $4,000 over the next four years, and setting aside $60 million in extra money that can be utilized for smaller school districts.

Another focus Hutchinson said he will be implementing on rural communities is making rural broadband more accessible.

"I looked at, it was Magnet Cove and few of the other small communities there in Hot Spring County, and they identified as their number one issue: access to rural broadband," he said. "That's their number one priority, and if you have a small community, and you don't have good internet access, your students come home from school and they're frustrated, because they've got it at school, but they don't have it in their homes. ... And how can you recruit a business or expand a business as someone who works out of their home if we don't have good fast-speed broadband across the state of Arkansas?"

Hutchinson said the state, in the past, has consistently relied on federal funds investing in broadband, but he wants to accelerate that.

"I asked the General Assembly to devote $25 million in a state grant program for our rural communities to accelerate the development of rural broadband in our communities."

The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen WELCOME: Association of Arkansas Counties Executive Director Chris Villines, right, greets Gov. Asa Hutchinson as he arrives to speak to the organization at its annual conference on Thursday at the Hot Springs Convention Center.
The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen WELCOME: Association of Arkansas Counties Executive Director Chris Villines, right, greets Gov. Asa Hutchinson as he arrives to speak to the organization at its annual conference on Thursday at the Hot Springs Convention Center.

Hutchinson said he has also increased the number of grants accessible, on a competitive basis, to communities to assist in funding needs like a community center renovation or the construction of a recreation facility for kids.

"With the support of the Legislature, we have put $1 million into (the) Economic Development Commission that you can access on a competitive grant program for local community projects," Hutchinson said. "This is the community assistance grant program. And you can access up to $50,000 per grant."

Hutchinson said one of the biggest challenges communities face is the challenge of illegal drugs and substance abuse.

"You combine that with the challenge that we have in our law enforcement with mental health issues in our communities, and you put that together, and we've got to have a better plan in our state and our nation to tackle these huge issues."

He said one of the things he has done is increased the number of mental health providers from 31 to 207 in the past two years. This happened, Hutchinson said, by putting a priority for providers to go into the "high need" areas of Arkansas, and allowing Medicaid to cover substance abuse counseling, incentivizing providers to once again pursue mental health and drug abuse counseling.

In addition to his focus on rural communities, one statewide action Hutchinson took was in response to the record-setting river levels earlier this year. He said he placed $10 billion into immediate availability of funds for repair of the levees.

"But we want to go further with that, because we really haven't studied our levee system in decades and decades," he said, "and we want to be able to enhance and strengthen it and look forward to their report."

In closing, Hutchinson gave an anecdote of his first visit to the Oval Office.

"On President Reagan's desk, there were two mottos that he had on platforms on his desk. One of them was 'it's amazing what can be accomplished when you don't care who gets the credit,' and the second motto was, 'it can be done.' And I think when it comes to Arkansas and your leadership, what we've learned from the last session is that it can be done. We did it together, we're moving Arkansas forward, and it's a wonderful thing to be in partnership with you."

Local on 08/23/2019

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