VAN BUREN — The Crawford County Quorum Court approved a 1-mill property tax increase Monday after a failed vote to raise the tax by 2 mills.
The 1-mill increase, the first the county has passed in 33 years, takes the county property-tax rate to 2.9 mills. It’s expected the new millage will increase annual revenue from about $1.3 million to nearly $2 million.
The Quorum Court’s two votes followed an intense but orderly debate among Quorum Court members and comments for and against the tax increase from a large crowd attending the Monday night meeting. The 2-mill increase failed on a vote of 8-5 with Quorum Court members Terry Bibbs, Shane Griffin, Lloyd Cole, James Lane and Dewite DeShazo voting against the ordinance. The tax needed a two-thirds majority to pass.
A second motion for a 1-mill increase passed 9-4 with Bibbs, Cole, Lane and DeShazo voting against it.
Quorum Court members said they would repeal the property-tax increase if a sales-tax increase passes, which would require a public vote. The Quorum Court members did not discuss what amount of sales tax would be sought.
Quorum Court members considered the 2-mill increase because it would have generated nearly $1.4 million a year, which would more than cover an estimated $800,000 shortfall Quorum Court members initially had to contend with in the proposed 2013 budget.
The Quorum Court passed a balanced general fund budget later Monday that projects revenue of $8.6 million against expenses of almost $8.5 million, leaving an estimated reserve of about $100,000.
County Judge John Hall said the Quorum Court was able to balance the general fund budget only after department heads agreed to dedicate their “automation” funds, normally reserved for replacement of office equipment, and to cut 10 percentfrom their 2012 budgets.
The general fund supports the general county government offices and is funded chiefly through collection of real and personal property taxes. The Quorum Court has authority to levy up to 5 mills without a public vote.
The county has three other funds in its budget that get their money from other sources - the road fund, 911 fund and library fund, Hall said.
Quorum Court member Christie Haught cautioned that adding only 1 mill would not provide enough money to keep the county afloat for the year. She predicted some departments would run out of money before the end of 2013.
That would leave the county with two options, cutting services or laying off employees, administrators have said.
During Monday’s debate, rural fire District 1 Chief Scott Price said the county’s rural fire departments worked hard over the past two decades to improve fireprotection for the county. The effort resulted in lowering of the Insurance Service Office rating and, in return, home insurance premiums, he said. Those benefits could be lost if rural fire services are cut, he said.
Elaine Walker, head of senior-citizen services for thecounty, said if her $40,000 budget is cut, many senior citizens would lose their only opportunity to get one hot meal a day. Many also rely on the county volunteers for their only human contact, she said.
Opponents of the tax told the Quorum Court members that economic times are hard and they cannot afford a tax increase.
Many said they preferred a sales tax over property taxes. One property owner said that with a sales tax, he had a choice of whether to pay by opting to make a purchase or not. There is no choice with a property tax, he said.
Crawford County has a 1 percent countywide sales tax that generated just more than $6 million in 2011, County Treasurer Beverly Pyle said Tuesday. The tax money is allocated by population with the county’s share being $2.7million in 2011.
Of that, she said, 15 percent goes to the county general fund, 40 percent to public safety and 45 percent to county roads.
Asked by one county resident Monday why the Quorum Court didn’t try earlier to get a sales tax passed, Hall replied that Quorum Court members were trying as hard as they could to pass a balanced budget without a tax increase.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 12/19/2012