Greenwood looks to renew sales tax

Greenwood voters will go to the polls Tuesday to decide whether to renew a 0.75 percent sales tax for the fire department, parks and recreation, and traffic congestion relief.

The number of polling places for Tuesday's special election will be reduced from three to one, which will be at Greenwood City Hall, Sebastian County Election Commissioner Lee Webb said.

He said the shift is an experiment to reduce the number of poll workers who have to be paid and to resolve problems at each of the three existing polling sites.

If the experiment proves successful, he said, the commission may permanently make Greenwood, population 8,952, a one-poll city, although the single site may not continue to be at city hall.

Ordinances passed by the city council last summer calling for the special election say that, if approved, the tax would be in effect for another 10 years.

The current tax went into effect in 2006 and expires Dec. 31, 2016. The extended tax would become effective on Jan. 1, 2017.

The ordinances said the tax, which generates about $850,000 annually, would be divided up so each use -- fire, parks and roads -- would get one-third of the tax proceeds.

Greenwood's total sales tax rate is 9.75 percent. The tax rate is composed of a 6.5 percent state sales tax, three city sales taxes totaling 2 percent, a 1 percent countywide sales tax and a 0.25 percent restaurant and lodging sales tax.

NW News on 11/09/2015

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