PINE BLUFF — Jefferson County residents likely will have another chance to vote on whether they want a sales tax dedicated to economic development.
Pine Bluff Mayor Carl Redus Jr. said city, county, economic development and Arkansas Municipal League officials have met monthly since this summer to discuss potential options for such a tax.
While details on the tax initiative are few, Redus said he is open to a new sales tax that would meet the needs of Pine Bluff residents, including new jobs and economic development.
“We want to address everyone’s needs as we evaluate a tax initiative to address city of Pine Bluff needs, and to address the needs of the other municipalities in the county and also how to address economic development - collectively,” Redus said.
Jefferson County now levies a 1.5 percent sales tax, and Pine Bluff levies a 1 percent sales tax on top of the state’s 6 percent sales tax.
Last year, Jefferson County residents voted against a 0.5 percent economic-development sales tax that would have generated $45 million over 10 years to recruit new industry to Jefferson County and provide work-force training and development.
Redus and other Pine Bluff off icials lobbied against that tax initiative, which failed in a vote of 3,348 to 4,525.
That tax initiative was proposed in the summer of 2008 by the 19-member Committee for Jefferson County’s Future, whose members included former Democratic state Rep. Earnest Brown, now a circuit judge; Pine Bluff School District Superintendent Frank Anthony; and Sim-mons First National President and CEO Tommy May.
Supporters of the tax said it was necessary to create jobs, stop population decline and build the tax base of the community. By attracting new jobs and industry, Pine Bluff would generate more tax revenue to help support police and fire protection, supporters said.
Critics contended that the tax wouldn’t guarantee good jobs and the ordinance creating it didn’t give Pine Bluff fair representation on the board deciding how the money would be spent.
Redus said a solid proposal on the new tax initiative could be ready for review as soon as next month.
Lou Ann Nisbett, president and CEO of the Economic Development Alliance of Jefferson County, said it’s necessary to offer incentives to recruit new industry to Pine Bluff and Jefferson County. Those incentives would be provided through funds allocated from the proposed tax.
“We’re still in negotiations trying to create a winwin situation working with our mayor, county judge and everyone else to see how we can make this work for everyone,” Nisbett said. “We’re not giving up.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 12/28/2009