Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan and others have said for years now that a parking deck would prove invaluable to the future of the Dickson Street entertainment district and Walton Arts Center. Jordan felt so strongly about it he was willing to take the unpopular step of introducing paid parking to the Dickson Street area to raise the money for it. He was determined to find a solution that, until then, had only been talked about.
Tonight, supporters' resolve might be tested. The Jordan administration in 2011 sought approval to issue bonds supported by the parking fee revenue. The $6.5 million in bonds, officials said back then, would provide about $5.5 million for construction. Some challenged those estimated costs and Jordan was asked whether it would be enough. "It'll have to be," he said. Set a budget, Jordan urged the City Council, so he'd know what he could afford to spend on the deck.
What’s The Point?
Despite skyrocketing costs for construction, the Fayetteville City Council should move forward with the long-awaited parking deck adjacent to the Walton Arts Center.
That was then, and that budget is a thing of the past. Tonight, Jordan will ask the City Council to spend up to $2.4 million in reserves to pay for a parking deck that may total as much as $12.7 million. Revenue from other sources, and potentially a shift to city employees doing some of the work, will make up some of the other ground.
City officials blame the eye-popping costs on higher-than-expected construction bids from contractors, saying they're not as "hungry" for business as they were even a year ago.
That's a tough price to swallow and questions still linger about how all the professionals engaged and paid by the city of Fayetteville could be so far off the mark. But as with so many public projects, one is faced with the question: Quit, or keep spending.
It's unlikely anyone is seriously considering the former. The deck has consistently been mentioned as a need by business owners, Dickson Street patrons and government leaders for many years. Although Bentonville was selected as the site for a future second Walton Arts Center theater, the original arts center is under a new 25-year lease and will need the parking and related office and backstage space as it undergoes its own transformative expansion paid for through private fundraising.
As Jordan said to aldermen last week, the city has already spent or is committed to spending about $2 million on the deck, so that's what the loss will be if the city walks away from the project.
"You have to work within the confines of the amount of money you have," Jordan told the City Council in 2011 as he sought bond issue approval. "My job and the staff's job is to make sure we keep it on budget and on time."
It's too bad the assurances made to get this project rolling, or anything close to them, haven't come to pass. But we can think of little that would be more wasteful than backing out now. The need for the deck remains unchanged.
It will be a tough hit to the wallet. After making sure every possible measure has been taken to trim costs, the City Council has little choice, in our view, but to move forward with this solution to a chronic challenge to the downtown area.
Commentary on 10/07/2014