Arkansas voters approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday to raise the sales tax to pay for a $1.8 billion road construction program. An article in Wednesday’s editions reported the wrong amount.
LITTLE ROCK — A proposal to raise the state’s sales tax by 0.5 percentage point to 6.5 percent for 10 years to raise $2.8 billion to build four-lane highways and roads appeared to garner the approval of most Arkansas voters Tuesday night.
With 1,840 of 2,386 precincts reporting, the unofficial results were:
For. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535,975 Against . . . . . . . . . . . . 380,420
The proposed constitutional amendment, formally known as Ballot Issue No. 1, would finance a $2.3 billion bond issue with the temporary half-percent sales tax, focusing on four-lane and larger highway projects that backers say will relieve congestion and improve safety while not raising taxes on groceries, medicine or gasoline. The $2.8 billion total is based on cash balances that accumulate over and above what is needed to retire the debt.
Craig Douglass, coordinator of the Move Arkansas Forward campaign, wasn’t ready to declare victory late Tuesday night, but he was optimistic.
“The whole notion of better highways really resonates with voters,” he said. “We started this campaign with 43 percent approval. We think voters understand the benefit.”
But Teresa Oelke, Arkansas director for Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group, said that because her organization or any other organization couldn’t mount an aggressive campaign, voters only heard one side of the conversation.
“When taxes increase and the superficial amount of jobs backers say it will create don’t materialize, the people of Arkansas will have a better picture of how this will drive up the cost of everyday life,” she said.
Under the proposal, the state Highway and Transportation Department would receive 70 percent of the proceeds from the tax, under a traditional split of money for state road construction, or about $160 million annually for the 10-year life of the tax. The cities and counties would split the remaining 30 percent, or about $35 million annually.
Separately, the proposal also creates a permanent stateaid street fund, similar to the existing state-aid county fund, that cities could tap for street projects.
One penny of the existing per-gallon motor fuels tax, worth about $20 million a year, would go to that fund.
R. Madison Murphy of El Dorado, the chairman of the Arkansas Highway Commission and the co-chairman of the ballot-issue committee, portrayed the initiative as a final piece in Arkansas highway funding that is necessary in an era when the primary source of highway revenue — taxes on gasoline and diesel — are flat because people travel fewer miles and vehicles are more fuel efficient even as federal officials have warned states they no longer can rely on increases in federal highway aid.
A year ago, Arkansas voters approved a $575 million bondrenewal program. Under the program, the Highway and Transportation Department expects to work on 75 repair projects worth $1.2 billion on 455 miles of interstate roadway. A diesel fuel tax increase approved for a similar bond program in 1999 will also go toward financing.
That will augment the department’s regular road construction funding, which includes the latest four-year statewide transportation plan, containing 163 state projects totaling an estimated $1.8 billion from 2010 to 2013, and the proposed plan for 2013-16, which contains about 190 state projects and an estimated $2.5 billion in spending.
Move Arkansas Forward, the campaign for the ballot initiative, rolled out last month with statewide television advertisements.
The campaign backers included the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce, the Arkansas Municipal League, the Association of Arkansas Counties, the Arkansas Farm Bureau and the Arkansas chapter of the Associated General Contractors. Altogether, they raised more than $1.4 million, according to the Move Arkansas Forward committee’s latest financial report, filed Oct. 15. Some of that total included work on last year’s bond renewal campaign, which the committee also supported.
Supporters also tried to raise the campaign profile by winning endorsements from Republican elected officials, including U.S. Sen. John Boozman and Lt. Gov. Mark Darr. Boozman said he would vote for it.
They also reasoned that they would find support for the initiative in cities and counties where some of the road construction money is allocated.
Counties and cities in Northwest Arkansas, for example, would be big winners.
Washington County would receive about $12.3 million over 10 years. Its 13 incorporated cities would receive a total of $30.4 million over the same period. Fayetteville, with $13.1 million, would receive the most, while Winslow, with a little more than $69,000, would receive the least.
Benton County would receive a total of $12.8 million over the 10 years. Its 19 incorporated cities would receive a collective $30.4 million over the same period. Rogers would get the most — about $9.9 million — and Springtown the least — about $91,000.
Front Section, Pages 9 on 11/07/2012