BENTONVILLE -- Saying they need more time to work on a new courts building, the members of Benton County's Finance Committee recommended delaying a vote on the project until the November 2016 general election.
"I agree we've got to wait until November," Mary L Slinkard, justice of the peace for District 11, said during the discussion. "The March 1 primary is too soon, too fast. Plus, it's going to be a nightmare anyway."
Tax proposal
Benton County officials are considering a sales tax increase with the proceeds dedicated to pay for all or part of a new courts building. County officials have said a 1/4 percent sales tax would raise about $8.8 million annually, a one-half percent sales tax would raise about $17.7 million annually and a 1 percent sales tax would raise about $26.5 million annually. The tax proposal would have a sunset provision, ending the collection of the tax once the money needed for the project is collected.
Source: Staff report
The justices of the peace said too much remains unsettled to meet an early December deadline for an election ordinance placing the courts project on the March, 1, 2016, party primary ballot. The county's Public Safety Committee has endorsed a plan for a new courts building in downtown Bentonville and the justices of the peace are looking for ways to pay for the project. County Judge Bob Clinard told the Finance Committee last week building costs could range from $24 million to $37 million, depending on the location and plan selected.
Susan Anglin, justice of the peace for District 9, said the county has to do more to show voters they aren't being asked to bear the full burden of the project by cutting budgets and spending money from existing reserve funds. She said voters she's talked to have been opposed to the idea of a tax increase to pay for the courts building.
"When you start talking about a sales tax you just get that look," Anglin said. "I don't have a real good feeling about it. I've had several people tell me 'We just don't need a new tax.'"
Joel Jones, justice of the peace for District 7, suggested if the county chooses to delay the vote until the November general election an expansion of the county jail might be added to the proposal. Jones said if it appears likely the county will need more space in the jail it will be easier to ask voters to approve a tax to pay for both projects at the same time.
Kurt Moore, justice of the peace for District 13, pointed out the county tried to couple a jail expansion and courts building in a single vote in the 1990s and voters rejected the plan. A separate vote on a new jail was passed in a later vote.
Tom Allen, justice of the peace for District 4 and chairman of the Finance Committee, said he didn't want to "muddy the waters" by adding a jail project to the courts proposal. He said the county has to have the details of a courts building and the funding plan set if voters are going to be convinced to support the plan, which is another reason why he recommended the county delay the vote.
"If we don't have our ducks in a row on this and we add in a jail expansion and we don't have our ducks in a row on that the perception we're going to get out there is we don't know what we're doing," Allen said.
The justices of the peace also agreed to begin work on next year's budget by asking elected officials and department heads to submit budgets with no increases. Allen said cutting the county's existing budget and committing a portion of the county's reserve money for the courts building will be part of the campaign to convince voters to support the funding plan needed to complete the project.
"The budget process is going to drive a lot of this," he said.
The justices of the peace voted to forward their recommendation on the election question to the Committee of the Whole, which is set to meet tonight.
NW News on 08/11/2015