Can a county library board offer employee benefits that the quorum court has not approved for other county employees?

Plain-English summary

Representative Lanny Fite asked the Attorney General about Saline County Library Board's authority to offer benefits to library employees that the Saline County Quorum Court did not extend to other county employees. He asked three questions: did the Library Board have that authority; would those benefits count as prohibited gifts under the state ethics laws or as legitimate compensation; and could the quorum court terminate the Library Board so the library could be run differently?

Attorney General Leslie Rutledge gave a layered answer. On Question 1, she concluded that library employees were not categorically barred from receiving benefits other county employees did not get. The catch was Ark. Code Ann. § 14-14-805(2): county employee policy and practices must be "general" and "uniform in application." That meant the Library Board could not adopt benefit rules that conflicted with what the quorum court had legislated. On Question 2, the AG declined to opine and referred the requester to the Arkansas Ethics Commission, which has statutory authority over questions arising under §§ 21-8-402 and 21-8-801. On Question 3, the AG declined to speculate about post-termination scenarios because the facts were not developed enough.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2019. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Background and statutory framework

Arkansas counties operate under Amendment 55 to the state constitution, which gives quorum courts broad legislative authority over county affairs. Section 14-14-805(2) of the Code constrains that authority in one specific way: when a quorum court legislates on "employee policy and practices," the legislation must be "of a general nature" and "uniform in application to all employees of the county." The point is to prevent a quorum court from carving out favorable policies for some employees.

A separate statutory regime, Ark. Code Ann. §§ 13-2-401 to 13-2-409, gives counties the option to create a county library and a board to run it. Amendment 38 of the Arkansas Constitution contemplates the possibility of operating without a library board.

The state's ethics laws, codified at Ark. Code Ann. §§ 21-8-402 et seq. and 21-8-801 et seq., govern gifts to public officials and employees. Enforcement and advisory authority over those provisions sits with the Arkansas Ethics Commission, not the AG.

Why the AG split the answer

The opinion drew a careful distinction. There is no general statute saying "library employees may have only the benefits other county employees have." That is what allowed the AG to say library employees are not categorically barred from receiving distinct benefits. But the same answer also recognized that the quorum court's general employee policy rules apply to all county employees, library staff included. So if the quorum court has legislated a policy on a subject (sick leave, holidays, insurance contributions), the Library Board cannot independently adopt a different policy on that same subject. A 2013 AG opinion (2013-070) had reached the same conclusion specifically about library board sick-leave policies.

The opinion declined Question 2 outright. Whether a particular benefit is a "gift" prohibited by the ethics laws or instead a legitimate "compensation" or "expense reimbursement" under § 14-14-1203 is, by statute, a question for the Arkansas Ethics Commission. The Commission issues advisory opinions on those provisions and has enforcement authority. The AG declined to step into that lane.

Question 3 asked about a hypothetical: if the Library Board lacked authority to provide certain benefits, could the quorum court dissolve the Board and have the library run as a non-profit or part of a regional system, and would that allow distinct benefits then? The AG read this as too speculative without facts about how the future arrangement would actually be structured.

Common questions

Did this opinion say a library board could never offer different benefits than the quorum court?

Not exactly. The opinion said the Library Board could not adopt benefit policies that conflicted with the quorum court's general employee policies. If the quorum court legislated a sick-leave policy, library employees fell under it. But library employees were not forbidden from getting benefits unavailable to other county employees so long as those benefits did not fall under a "general" employee policy that the quorum court had legislated.

Why did the AG refuse to answer the gift question?

Questions about whether something is a prohibited "gift" under Ark. Code Ann. § 21-8-402 et seq. are statutorily assigned to the Arkansas Ethics Commission. The AG's office, by longstanding practice, declines to issue opinions on matters specifically assigned to another agency.

What was the legal authority controlling library board policies?

Ark. Code Ann. § 14-14-805(2). It states that county employee policies must be "of a general nature" and "uniform in application to all employees of the county." That uniformity requirement is the constraint on the Library Board.

Could the quorum court abolish a county library board?

The opinion did not directly address that question. Under Ark. Code Ann. § 13-2-401(d), a quorum court "may" create a board, which suggests discretion. Amendment 38 also contemplates operation without a library board. The AG declined to opine on what employee benefits would look like in a hypothetical post-board world.

Citations

Ark. Code Ann. §§ 14-14-805(2), 14-14-1203, 13-2-401, 13-2-407, 21-8-402 et seq., and 21-8-801 et seq.; Arkansas Constitution Amendment 38; prior AG opinions 2013-070 and 90-319.

Source

• Landing page: https://arkansasag.gov/divisions/opinions-foia/attorney-general-opinions-search/

Original opinion text

Opinion No. 2018-116
January 4, 2019
The Honorable Lanny Fite
State Representative
3324 Highway 5
Benton, AR 72019-1883
Dear Representative Fite:
STATE OF ARKANSAS
ATTORNEY GENERAL
LESLIE RUTLEDGE

This is in response to your request for an opinion on several questions concerning benefits provided to Saline County Library employees. As background for your questions, you note that the Saline County Library Board currently provides certain benefits to library employees that are not made available to other county employees whose benefits are established by the Quorum Court. You further note that according to a previous Attorney General opinion, a county library board lacks authority to adopt a sick-leave policy that is inconsistent with a policy established by the quorum court.

With this in mind, you ask the following questions, which I have paraphrased slightly:

1) Does the Saline County Library Board have the authority to provide certain benefits to library employees, since these same benefits have not been provided to other county employees by the Quorum Court?

2) Would the benefits be considered a reimbursement of a private expense or a "gift" as defined in Ark. Code Ann. § 21-8-402 et seq., and thus prohibited under Ark. Code Ann. § 21-8-801 et seq.? Or, could these benefits be considered part of the employee's compensation or a legitimate expense reimbursement under Ark. Code Ann. § 14-14-1203 and be authorized by law?

3) If the Library Board does not have the authority to provide library employees with these benefits and if the benefits are prohibited under the law, could the Quorum Court vote to terminate the Board's existence and allow the library to form a non-profit corporation or contract with a regional public library system in accordance with Ark. Code Ann. § 13-2-407? If so, would this allow the Board to provide compensation and/or benefits to library employees that are not provided to other county employees?

RESPONSE

In response to your first question, library employees are not necessarily prohibited from receiving benefits simply because the same benefits are not provided to other county employees. I must decline to opine on your second question. The Arkansas Ethics Commission is statutorily invested with power to issue advisory opinions on questions arising under the statute you reference. The scenario outlined under your third question is not entirely clear, but it seems to envision the Library Board's termination and the future operation of the library either by a non-profit entity or as part of a regional system. While the Quorum Court may wish to pursue these avenues for handling library operations, I lack sufficient information to address employee benefits under other possible scenarios.

DISCUSSION

Question 1: Does the Saline County Library Board have the authority to provide certain benefits to library employees, since these same benefits have not been provided to other county employees by the Quorum Court?

There is no general prohibition against library employees receiving benefits that are not provided to other county employees. Counties must, however, have uniform "employee policy and practices" pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 14-14-805(2), which states that "[l]egislation applying to employee policy practices shall be only of a general nature and shall be uniform in application to all employees of the county."

The Library Board, therefore, cannot adopt policies for library employees that differ from those established by the Quorum Court for county employees as part of the county's general "employee policy and practices." This limitation, as applied to your particular question, means that the Library Board lacks authority to provide different benefits from those that have been legislated by the Quorum Court. It does not necessarily mean that library employees are limited to receiving benefits only if those same benefits are available to other county employees.

Question 2: Would the benefits be considered a reimbursement of a private expense or a "gift" as defined in Ark. Code Ann. § 21-8-402 et seq., and thus prohibited under Ark. Code Ann. § 21-8-801 et seq.? Or, could these benefits be considered part of the employee's compensation or a legitimate expense reimbursement under Ark. Code Ann. § 14-14-1203 and be authorized by law?

I cannot opine on this question. Questions about the applicability of Ark. Code Ann. § 21-8-402 should be directed to the Arkansas Ethics Commission, which is specifically invested with enforcement authority in this regard.

Question 3: If the Library Board does not have the authority to provide library employees with these benefits and if the benefits are prohibited under the law, could the Quorum Court vote to terminate the Board's existence and allow the library to form a non-profit corporation or contract with a regional public library system in accordance with Ark. Code Ann. § 13-2-407? If so, would this allow the Board to provide compensation and/or benefits to library employees that are not provided to other county employees?

It is unclear precisely what you mean by the phrase "allow the library to form a non-profit corporation or contract with a regional public library system." If the Library Board is terminated, the Library's operation will be a matter for the Quorum Court to determine. I cannot speculate about employee benefits under other possible scenarios.

Sincerely,
LESLIE RUTLEDGE
Attorney General