Officials push to extend sales tax

GREENWOOD — City and county officials agreed Wednesday that the quality of services Sebastian County and its cities provide residents would suffer without the revenue from the countywide 1 percent sales tax.

Mayors and other officials in the Sebastian County Intergovernmental Cooperation Council met Wednesday and voiced their support for renewal of the tax, which is approaching its 20th year.

Sebastian County Judge David Hudson said the tax, first enacted in 1994, is scheduled to expire midyear in 2014. He plans to present a resolution to the Quorum Court on Feb. 19 setting a May 14 special election to continue the tax for another 10 years, he said.

Holding the election this year instead of the middle of next year, Hudson said, will prevent confusion about whether the tax money will be available when city and county officials prepare 2014 budgets at the end of this year.

Hudson distributed a document showing the election would cost an estimated $45,117. The cost would be allocated to the county and cities based on population. Fort Smith, as the county’s most populous entity, would bear nearly $31,000 of the cost.

A residents’ committee headed by James Burgess of Greenwood and Jack Freeze of Fort Smith will lead the public-education effort, Hudson said. He asked the county’s mayors Wednesday to help promote the tax as well and educate residents about the need to renew it.

“If we did not have the tax, Midland would be dried up,” said Todd Bolton, mayor of the county’s smallest town.

Midland, population 325, received nearly $58,000 last year from the tax. Over the past 20 years, Bolton said, the town has used its share of the tax revenue to pave streets and build a fire station. He said Midland is preparing to establish a sewer system that will benefit its residents and may prompt more people to move there.

The sales tax generated nearly $22.4 million in Sebastian County in 2012. The largest share of the tax, $15.3 million, went to Fort Smith because the tax is allocated by population. Fort Smith has a population of 86,209, according to the 2010 census.

The unincorporated area of Sebastian County has the next largest population, and nearly $3.5 million was allocated to the county last year.

Greenwood was next in population and received almost $1.6 million from the tax last year. Barling received $827,600.

Police and fire protection, streets, sewer service and public benefits such as parks, libraries and senior citizen services topped the lists of uses mentioned by most of the 11 mayors in the council during their meeting.

For the smaller towns, the sales tax makes up a large portion of their annual budgets. Lavaca Mayor Hugh Hardgrave said the town’s nearly $407,500 share of the tax fueled 41 percent of the town’s budget last year.

“Lavaca needs that penny and we will do our best to educate the people to keep it,” Hardgrave said.

Mansfield multiplied the effect of its tax dollars by using some of its share as matching funds for government grants, Mayor Glen Hurt said.

Fort Smith used some of its share of the tax to offset the repeal of its privilege license requirement, City Administrator Ray Gosack said.

Gary Lawrence, president of Sebastian County’s rural fire association, said many towns used some of their tax money to improve their fire protection. The improvements helped to lower residents’ insurance premiums, because rural fire departments had enough money to build stations and buy trucks and firefighter equipment, he said.

Sebastian County uses 62 percent of its share for law enforcement, according to a resolution the Quorum Court passed in 2003. A 44 percent share is used for operation of the county jail and 9 percent is used for juvenile detention center operations. Another 9 percent is used to fund deputy positions.