FAYETTEVILLE -- City voters will decide Aug. 9 whether to boost their property taxes and expand the public library's size and programs following a City Council vote Tuesday.
The council voted 6-1, with Ward 4 Alderman John La Tour opposed, to call a special election on whether to raise the library's 1-mill personal property levy to 3.7 mills temporarily to cover construction bonds before eventually settling it at 2.5 mills. Alderman Martin Schoppmeyer of Ward 3 wasn't present.
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The initial tax bump would cost property owners an additional $54 a year for every $100,000 worth of property while backing up to $26.5 million for an expansion. Library officials have said they hope to renovate the library and add around 60,000 square feet for new children's and teens' areas, a genealogy room and parking to meet increasing community demands.
"We absolutely have to support our library," Alderwoman Sarah Marsh of Ward 1 said, adding its material, computers and services attract people to Fayetteville and "serve everyone." "This is one of the most important institutions in the city."
The vote came after about 500 city residents petitioned for the election; under Amendment 30 of the state constitution, the council must set an election on a library tax when at least 100 eligible residents call for one. The vote was part of a busy agenda that also included the council's unopposed endorsement of an economic development plan that will steer city projects for the next five years.
Despite the constitutional directive, La Tour said he couldn't support the library election's speedy approval and preferred it to happen during the November general election, when turnout is generally higher than in special elections.
"I'm not saying I don't want a library, I'm not saying we shouldn't support the library," he said, adding of the August date: "I view it as voter suppression."
The library's board has raised fees, frozen salaries and trimmed about $300,000 in maintenance, material and programs in the past two years in order to stretch its budget, putting off hundreds of thousands of dollars more in projected budget increases as well. The proposed permanent millage increase would help the library make up that lost ground, board members have said.
The expansion's scale partly depends on the fate of the library's deal with Washington Regional Medical Center to buy the neighboring City Hospital land for $2 million. The deal is waiting for Arkansas Supreme Court review after appeals by descendants of the family that donated the land to the city a century ago.
The council then moved on to approving Fayetteville First, a plan setting out how the city can attract and keep people and businesses in the next several years. The plan came from hundreds of surveys and input meetings with the public and businesses in recent months and essentially updates the 2009 Fayetteville Forward plan that had a similar purpose.
Under the plan, the city should focus on a slew of industries and improvements, including encouraging entrepreneurs and young businesses, keeping and expanding manufacturing and retail, continuing its tradition of sustainability, improving the transportation network and fostering culture and the arts.
Several companies complained about the city's taxes and permitting process, said Del Boyette, founder of Boyette Strategic Advisors, which put together the plan for $89,000. "It is an issue, and it needs to be addressed," he told the council.
But residents and companies listed the University of Arkansas and the city's quality of life as assets, and the downtown square has become a hotbed for startups, Boyette said. The city also emphasizes environmental friendliness, which he said is appealing to major companies.
"We're doing some very good things," Mayor Lioneld Jordan said, adding next the council must decide on concrete steps toward the plan's goals.
NW News on 05/18/2016