FAYETTEVILLE — With City Council approval, voters will decide Nov. 12 whether to commit taxpayer money to Walton Arts Center improvement and a planned regional park.
A $11.9 million bond issue would also repay debt associated with Fayetteville Town Center construction in 2001.
At A Glance
Bond Proposal
Fayetteville aldermen, next month, could approve ballot language for a Nov. 12 special election. An $11.9 million bond proposal, as presented to City Council members Tuesday, contains three questions:
• Issuing up to $1.5 million in bonds to refund debt associated with Fayetteville Town Center construction
• Issuing up to $6.9 million in bonds to finance a portion of Walton Arts Center improvement
• Issuing up to $3.5 million in bonds to help construct a regional park
Source: City of Fayetteville
Aldermen are scheduled to discuss the proposal next week. A decision on a special election isn’t expected until Aug. 20. Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion commissioners signed off on the proposal in May.
The bond issue, if approved, wouldn’t create a tax. It wouldn’t change the 2 percent tax on hotel stays and food purchases in city restaurants. The Advertising and Promotion Commission’s half of the tax would, however, be committed to paying off Town Center bonds, arts center improvement and regional park development during the next 25 years. The other half of the tax goes to the city’s park development fund. A portion of that money has been set aside since 2002 for a regional park off Cato Springs Road in southwest Fayetteville.
The arts center’s share of the proposal — about $6.9 million — would go toward an estimated $20.6 million project to build a new lobby, backstage area, administrative offices and expanded Starr Theater at the center’s Dickson Street building.
Terri Trotter, arts center chief operating officer, has said Starr Theater often has to be used as a dressing room during large events in the center’s main Baum Walker Hall. Adding backstage space and expanding the theater from 165 to 250 seats could allow for more performances.
“We have incredibly exciting plans for the Walton Arts Center,” Trotter said Tuesday. “When we have more people coming to see more activities at the Walton Arts Center and spending time on Dickson Street, that’s more money being invested back into the community.”
Mayor Lioneld Jordan said arts center expansion has been needed for at least 10 years. He called the bond proposal an opportunity “to make an upgrade to a very valuable asset to the city.”
The park portion of the proposal — about $3.5 million — would breathe life into a project on the drawing board for more than a decade. Combined with about $4.5 million the city has for the park, bond money would pay for most of phase 1 and 2 of the five-phase project, according to Connie Edmonston, Parks and Recreation director.
Edmonston said the $8 million would pay for eight soccer fields and maybe half of eight baseball diamonds planned, along with infrastructure, such as electricity, sewer pipes, water lines, fire hydrants, an entry road, lighting, parking and sidewalks. Park staff would look for donations, increased hospitality tax revenue or general fund reserve to complete the baseball complex.
Park plans also include youth softball fields; playgrounds; tennis, basketball and volleyball courts; a disc golf course; splashpad; and community amphitheater. Jordan said he intended to pay for the rest of the park “one step at a time.”
Jordan said the park has potential to draw tourism to Fayetteville in the form of youth sports tournaments. “It’s one of the most important things I think we need if we’re going to be the type of progressive city that we are in the region,” he added.
A third question on the Nov. 12 ballot would ask voters to issue $1.5 million in bonds to pay off remaining Town Center debt.
If voters approve all three questions, aldermen must still authorize issuing the bonds.
If voters reject either the arts center or regional park portion of the bond proposal, a lower dollar amount of bonds would be issued, said Kit Williams, city attorney. Then it would be up to the council to determine whether to adjust the 25-year payment schedule or change the amount paid on the bonds each year.
If voters reject all three ballot questions, the city’s hospitality tax wouldn’t go away, Williams said. Voters could only elect to repeal the tax after all debt is retired, he explained. Marilyn Heifner, executive director of the Advertising and Promotion Commission, has said debt remains on the Town Center bonds until at least 2015.