Wish lists for how to spend the windfall from a new, half-cent sales tax for transportation include more than just roads for some Northwest Arkansas cities.
Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan said his priority for an estimated $1.3 million to $1.5 million each year over the next decade is transportation alternatives, including sidewalks, trails, bike lanes and passenger rail. Jordan’s 2013 budget proposal designates $1.5 million of the turnback for trail development and $115,000 for sidewalk improvements.
Sidewalks, in particular, are needed, said Brenda Boudreaux, Ward 1 alderwoman.
“I know trail development is critical,” Boudreaux said. “But I just hear consistently in Ward 1 and some of the other wards, that we don’t have sidewalks to get to the trails. I tell you, I think citizens are starting to kind of rear their heads about our sidewalk situation.”
Rogers plans to use the 2013 sales tax money to expand its trail system, connecting between historic downtown to the Razorback Greenway trail on the west side of the city. The city will move ahead with planning for the trail, then use money from the sales tax to reimburse the city for those costs, said Steve Glass, city director of planning and transportation. That will allow construction to start in late summer or early fall of 2013, about the same time the first quarterly check of about $250,000 hits city accounts, he said.
The tax is expected to raise $230 million a year statewide, and pay for $1.2 billion in four-lane highway construction. Seventy percent will go to state highway projects and 30 percent, about $33.5 million a year, to cities and counties for local projects. The turnback money will be distributed based on population and land area. Estimates show Benton and Washington counties would each receive about $1.2 million a year. The tax will be temporary, raising the state sales tax from 6 percent to 6.5 percent for 10 years. Food, medicine and gasoline are exempt.
Springdale has a list of street projects that could be built with money from the tax, said Patsy Christie, city director of planning and community development.
“We still don’t know what restrictions will be on the tax money,” Christie said. “We would look at our list and see what would fit those restrictions.”
Voters approved the half-cent sales tax on Nov. 6.
Some cities decided against budgeting the money for 2013, since the first checks aren’t expected until at least September.
Mike Churchwell, transportation director in Bentonville, said city leaders haven’t made any plans for the money. They want to wait and see an actual number before they start trying to plan or apply it.
Top of Mind
Local leaders note plenty of road projects awaiting money.
Widening of the Elm Springs Road overpass, one of several Interstate 540 interchanges slated for $100 million in upgrades, is a top priority for Springdale, Christie said. The project will likely be paid for by the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department’s portion of the sales tax money, leaving Springdale’s money available for other projects, she said.
“We are trying to partner with the Arkansas Highway Department with the project,” Christie said. “We’ve got plenty of time to work on that project and discuss what other projects would fit.”
In addition to alternative transportation, Jordan said highway tax money could also be used to build a network of streets in southwest Fayetteville where a regional park is planned. Improvements to College Avenue north of North Street and a one-mile extension to Van Asche Drive are also high on the mayor’s priority list.
Fayetteville might also use highway tax money to finance a bond issue, helping stretch the sales tax money to cover more projects, Jordan said. Bonds supported by sales tax revenue are a common way to finance transportation improvement programs in Northwest Arkansas. Each of the four big cities has an active bond program, supported by local sales tax revenue, that funds road and trail improvements.
Smaller cities approach the prospect of new road money on a smaller scale.
The city of Prairie Grove has not had any discussions about the additional revenue from the highway tax, but won’t have trouble spending the money, said Larry Oelrich, director of administrative services and public works.
“We definitely have more needs than we currently have money, so it will be used for projects,” he said.
Gentry Mayor Kevin Johnston said he expects discussion soon on what his city might do with the extra money.
Melissa McCarville, Farmington city business manager, said the 2013 budget doesn’t include any projected revenues from the new tax. She has some ideas for the money, but city officials have not had any discussions yet.
“I think we’ll just continue to do what we do,” McCarville said. “We’ll just be able to do more.”
Big Ticket
The biggest-ticket projects — the Bella Vista and U.S. 412 bypasses and improvements to I-540 — have all been on the drawing board for some time, said Jeff Hawkins, director of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission.
“Our input has mostly been in helping determine which projects the state Highway Department should tackle first,” Hawkins said. “The city and county money is totally at their discretion, although some of their project priorities match things we’d like to see as well.”
Local projects earmarked by the state Highway Department during the next decade in Washington and Benton counties include adding lanes to Interstate 540, two lanes of the Bella Vista Bypass and phase one of the Springdale Northern Bypass, from I-540 to Arkansas 112. The Springdale bypass includes an interchange for the proposed access road to the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, according to Scott Bennett, director of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.
Some city-funded projects help further the aims of larger projects, Hawkins said.
The Rogers plan to add spur trails connecting to the Razorback Greenway system helps complete parts of the trail system that the original $15 million in federal funding couldn’t fund, he said.
“Under the rules ten years ago, a lot of city road funds couldn’t have been used for trails, sidewalks or a lot of these projects, but those rules have been changed so that trails, stoplights, transit, and a whole host of other things are now allowed because it’s all considered transportation-related,” Hawkins said.
Some projects can’t be moved to the front of the line, Hawkins said.
“The new access road to XNA can’t be built until the 412 bypass is complete, because the bypass provides the link to the beginning point of the airport road,” he said. “But, the quicker we can build the 412 bypass, the closer we get to funding and building the access road.”