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Friends,
I hope all of you had a safe, joyful holiday season and a very happy new year. As we enter in 2025, we share our gratitude and appreciation for the residents who make Little Rock the best city to live, work and play.
As we looked ahead to this year, the Little Rock Board of Directors adopted the 2025 budget on Dec. 26. A City's annual budget is its most important financial and policy document. Just like how many residents manage their wallets, a City, too, must make its own priorities about how it spends its income. Little Rock's annual budget, adopted each year by the Board of Directors, sets out Little Rock's financial strategy for the coming year based on expected revenues and expenses.
This balanced budget reflects the City's ongoing priorities to support public safety and essential city services.
This year's budget of approximately $338 million is about 2 percent higher than last year. The increase is reflected in across-the-board COLA raises for city team members, 5 percent raises in our police and fire departments, and higher health insurance costs.
In addition, we are establishing three new positions in our Department of Housing and Neighborhood Programs to help us address issues related to our unsheltered community. The 2025 budget creates two new homelessness engagement specialists and a data analyst who will focus solely on helping find solutions to assist unsheltered residents as they transition to permanent housing.
As we look ahead to the new year, it's essential for us to find new and creative ways to fund more priorities and goals. Over the last few years, we have utilized federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act and other sources to support capital projects and other investments. However, we do not anticipate any influx of federal money this year.
So, we plan to seek out additional opportunities for grants or for public-private partnerships. In the first quarter of this year, we will also discuss whether it may be more beneficial to sell or repurpose existing city properties while exploring additional ways to increase revenue.
Ultimately, it's our responsibility to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and to manage our expenses in the same fiscally responsible ways that our residents manage their own. The 2025 budget reflects that, and we are grateful to the team at the City of Little Rock for their hard work over the holidays, as well as our Board for passing this balanced budget.
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Winter Weather Preparations
This time of year, city team members mobilize to assist our residents and guests in the event of winter weather. On Sunday, we opened an overnight emergency shelter for those needing a warm, safe place to stay. And, as we look at the forecast for late in the week, our Public Works Department is making preparations for a potential winter storm.
The overnight emergency shelter is available tonight (Monday, Jan. 6) as well at Dunbar Community Center, 1001 W. 16th St. The shelter's hours this evening are from 6 p.m. to 9 a.m., and all are welcome. We are grateful for our partnerships with The Van and other community organizations that help make our sheltering operation possible. The Van is providing transportation to those individuals who need assistance getting to the shelter. Call (501) 955-3444 for transportation.
Our emergency services division is actively monitoring weather forecasts to determine whether the shelter will be open additional nights this week. Because of the shelter operation, the gymnasium at Dunbar Community Center will be closed all week, though all other areas of the center will remain open.
With winter precipitation forecasted for Thursday night and Friday, our Public Works team is prepared with 17 trucks to be equipped with salt spreaders and snow plows, front-end loaders, back hoes and motor graders. When winter precipitation falls, crews work on 12-hour rotating shifts until streets are clear. The City uses a sand/salt mixture to treat streets, and that mixture is stored at three separate locations in the City so that trucks can be quickly and efficiently loaded with the mixture.
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram or X to get timely inclement weather updates. You can also sign up here to receive our news releases.
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City of Little Rock Public Works Department crews respond during a winter weather event in January 2024. The Public Works team is proactively working to prepare for snow or ice in the coming weeks and months.
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New Procurement Platform
Through outreach, vendor fairs, and programs like BUILD and Emprende, the City of Little Rock does everything it can to remove barriers and improve processes for vendors who seek to do business with the City.
As part of that effort, we have updated our eProcurement system, commonly known as LRPROCURE, to Bonfire. This system standardizes and modernizes the procurement process and adds functionality that the City did not previously have. Bonfire is used by more than 600 agencies across the country.
The new platform allows vendors to easily ask questions regarding a bid or project through a public Q&A feature. This allows our team to provide responses publicly without requiring additional public notice or an addendum, improving efficiency. It also allows vendors to submit their interest in being a prime or subcontractor on a project, and that list is displayed for all vendors.
City of Little Rock vendors will receive additional support from Bonfire if they have questions or need assistance in using the platform.
Our transition to Bonfire is yet another way we strive to provide exceptional service to vendors and residents.
Vendors who want to register to do business with the City of Little Rock may visit littlerock.bonfirehub.com to get registered today.
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The Week Ahead
- Join us on Tuesday, Jan. 7, at 3 p.m. at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts for the swearing-in ceremony for four members of the Little Rock Board of Directors who were re-elected last November. At-large Directors Joan Adcock, Dean Kumpuris and Antwan Phillips, and Ward 4 Director Capi Peck will all be sworn in to new four-year terms. AMFA is located at 501, E. Ninth St. in historic MacArthur Park.
- The Little Rock Board of Directors will hold its first regular meeting of 2025 on Tuesday, Jan. 7, at 6 p.m. in the Board Room at City Hall, 500 W. Markham St. All board meetings are livestreamed on the City of Little Rock's Facebook and YouTube pages.
- On Thursday, Jan. 9, the Little Rock Planning Commission meets at 4 p.m. in the Board Room at City Hall. The Planning Commission considers rezoning requests and other issues related to planning, zoning and development.
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As always, stay up to date with what's happening in the City on Facebook, X, or Instagram via @citylittlerock. You can also email me at mayorscott@littlerock.gov or call my office at 501.371.4744.
I appreciate you!
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