Voters in Ozark will go to the polls Aug. 11 to decide whether to enact a 1 percent sales tax to finance construction of an indoor community recreation complex and an emergency services building.
Ordinances passed unanimously by the council on June 8 propose issuing bonds that would total up to $7 million for development of the recreation complex and up to $3 million for the emergency services building, which would house a new police station and additional fire station.
Mayor T.R. McNutt said Monday that the feedback he's gotten since the meeting on the proposed projects has been positive.
"Everybody seems really excited about it, and we seem to have the public behind this," he said.
McNutt, who was elected to office last year, said he campaigned on developing a recreation complex, explaining that Ozark has fallen behind surrounding communities in providing recreational opportunities for its residents, young and old.
Ozark Fire Chief Kevin Eveld said the Western Arkansas Planning and Development District held a town hall meeting in April to get public opinion on community projects. McNutt said an overflow crowd attended.
A report the district issues said the project that residents mentioned they wanted the most was an indoor aquatics center.
Eveld said the city needs a new fire station to cover the northwest side of the city. If built, it would house a new fire engine the department has already ordered. A site for the new building has not been determined, he said.
He also said the city's police station downtown is old and floods, and the department has outgrown it.
The sales tax question proposes that seven-eighths of the money generated from the tax would be used to pay off bonds that would be issued to raise money for the recreation complex and emergency services building.
The other eighth of the tax, according to the ordinance, would go to the city's operation and maintenance fund "to fund the city's general operations, including but not limited to, funds for the operation and maintenance of the capital improvements and other city facilities, and to pay the principal and interest on the bonds."
The seven-eighths part of the tax would expire when the construction bonds are paid off in about 25 years, Eveld said. The remaining portion of the tax would be permanent.
If approved, collection of the tax would begin on Jan. 1, according to the ordinance.
The ballot question on the recreation complex described it as comprising an indoor swimming pool, bathhouse, therapy pool, athletic courts, walking track and other amenities. It also said the bond money would be used to pay for parking, furnishings, equipment, drainage, lighting and utility improvements associated with the complex, along with future renovations and improvements.
McNutt said the complex would be built on 17 acres of city property at City Hall on Ozark's west end.
City Hall is in a large vacant warehouse, but McNutt said it was in poor condition and not suitable itself to house a recreation complex.
The ballot title for the emergency services building said the bond money would be used for land acquisition, construction, related administrative offices and parking and would include the cost of utility location, parking, furnishings, equipment, drainage, lighting, utility improvements and traffic signals. It also would provide for future renovations and improvements and acquisition of emergency vehicles, apparatus and equipment.
The sales tax rate in Ozark is 9 percent. Of that, 6.5 percent is levied by the state, 1.5 percent is charged by Franklin County and 1 percent by Ozark. McNutt said money from the current city sales tax goes into the city's general fund.
A 1 percent sales tax generates about $860,000 a year in Ozark, Eveld said.
Metro on 06/16/2015