Early voting on a bond election to benefit the Arkansas Arts Center starts today.
Registered Little Rock voters can cast a ballot between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. today through Friday and on Monday at the downtown voting location in the Pulaski County Election Commission building at 501 W. Markham St.
Next Tuesday is election day, when regular polling locations will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
At issue is whether to allow the city to take out bonds of up to $37.5 million primarily for improvements to the Arts Center. About $1 million would be for the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History. Improvements also would be made to MacArthur Park, where both facilities are located.
The Arts Center has yet to come up with a specific plan on how to spend the funds if voters approve the issue.
The ballot wording states that the money is for "improvements to MacArthur Park, including particularly, without limitation, renovations and additions to, and furnishings and equipment for, the Arkansas Arts Center and renovations and equipment for the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, including any necessary parking, landscaping, signage, drainage, lighting, road and utility improvements in MacArthur Park."
Officials have said they want to expand the Arts Center and improve its layout and look but stopped short of making any promises. They have said they would need to raise private donations to pair with the public funds to achieve a large-scale renovation.
Goals include updating the heating and air system, adding vault storage and education spaces, and renovating the Children's Theatre and studio spaces, Executive Director Todd Herman has said.
Herman said the center didn't want to spend money on architectural renderings yet because it won't know how large of a project it can take on until it knows if the ballot issue will pass and how much private money can be raised.
A three-person committee was set up to campaign for the bond election.
The Committee for Arts and History has raised a little more than $29,000 so far. Its first financial filing is due to the Arkansas Ethics Commission today.
The committee -- headed by Gary Smith, Ron Fuller and Chauncey Holloman -- has spent about $28,000 of that, mostly on mailings, phone calls and yard signs.
The campaign team has been quick to remind voters that they are not voting for a tax.
The Little Rock Board of Directors already approved a tax increase on its own that will be pledged toward paying back the bonds if the ballot issue passes. The board raised the tax paid on hotel room night purchases by 2 percent.
Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola has said that was the best way to improve city services -- by making out-of-town guests pay for it.
That is justified since the Arts Center brings in tourists, he said.
The city board called for the Feb. 9 special election for voters to decide the bond issue rather than placing it on the March primary ballot, which would not have cost the city any money because the primary is being paid for by the state.
Stodola said the special election was necessary to separate the issue of the Arts Center from politics in minds of voters.
The special election is estimated to cost up to $116,000. The Committee for Arts and History has agreed to foot the bill.
Jordan Johnson, a spokesman for the group, said that there are some outstanding financial pledges that will go toward paying the election cost.
More than 300 people have signed up to volunteer for the campaign efforts, Johnson said.
Typically, voter turnout at special elections are low, Election Commission Executive Director Bryan Poe has said.
"There's usually somewhere between 2 [percent] and 10 percent," he said.
The last bond special election in Little Rock was in 2013 when 6.5 percent of eligible voters showed up at the polls. In comparison, about 35 percent of Pulaski County voters showed up in 2008, the last time there was an early primary in a presidential election year.
Metro on 02/02/2016