The prospect of cutting the county’s road taxes, which are split between cities and the county, and raising the county’s general purpose taxes - which are not split - isn’t off the table. We understand that. All that was agreed to in the recent meeting between the quorum court and cities was to try to find another way.We commend the Washington County Quorum Court and the county’s cities for agreeing to work with cities to find a solution on property taxes for roads.
Another way needs finding. The road taxes have to be used for roads. The general purpose tax can be used for anything. We’re sure the public will insist that the taxes be spent on roads and that insistence will work - at least for a while. But the fact remains that insistence is one thing. Keeping it illegal to spend the money on anything but roads is another.
This is not a new topic for the area. Benton County took this last resort after it could find no other way.
Washington County wants to get state law changed to make the revenue split less severe for the county.
We remind readers that Benton County tried to do the same thing in the Legislature’s last regular session - without success.
In particular, we’d like to commend Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan for his recent statement: “We could probably take on the millage split if it was phased in over a two- or three-year period.”
That’s a realistic outlook, even while Fayetteville faces serious budget concerns of its own. Jordan realizes that if the cities cling to the whole share they get now, the county could resort to the general millage increase - taking the whole city share of the road tax away. That would make the city’s budget problems even worse.
We’d also like to commend the quorum court for something it’s not saying. Nobody’s talking about leaving the road taxes the same and increasing the general purpose taxes too. We’re not sure if that’s political pragmatism, concern for the economically hard-pressed public, or both. Whatever the motive, we can all foresee what kind of reception that idea would get.
Casualties Of War
To honor the men and women in our armed forces and remind our readers of their sacrifi ces, the Northwest Arkansas Times is publishing Department of Defense announcements identifying Americans killed in active military operations.
Sgt. Frank R. Zaehringer III, 23, of Reno, Nev., died Oct. 11 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Two soldiers died Oct. 10 of wounds suff ered when insurgents attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device. Killed were Staff Sgt. Dave J. Weigle, 29, of Philadelphia. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 75th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky., and Spc. David A. Hess, 25, of Ruskin, Fla. He was assigned to the 526th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.
Spc. Matthew C. Powell, 20, of Slidell, La., died Oct. 12 at Kandahar Airfield, of wounds suffered at Ghunday Ghar, Afghanistan when insurgents attacked his military vehicle using an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 526th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.
Lance Cpl. Raymon L. A. Johnson, 22, of Midland, Ga., died Oct. 13 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 10/23/2010