Mountain Home city leaders have decided to ask voters to approve a three eighths percent sales tax to help offset rising costs for maintaining police and fire department vehicles and equipment.
The Baxter County city of 12,448 will hold a special election on Sept. 12 for the tax.
The city already collects a 1 percent citywide sales tax to fund street and sewer maintenance.
If favored, the tax will generate an estimated $1.7 million annually, said Mountain Home Mayor Joe Dillard. The tax would be collected permanently and would only be used to repair and upgrade equipment for police and firefighters, and to hire a full-time code enforcement officer and animal control officer.
“This will not be used for increasing salaries,” Dillard said. “We have a lot of equipment with a lot of age on them. We have a backlog of things that should have already been replaced.
“We could provide better services with better equipment.”
He said the Mountain Home Police Department uses vehicles that are between 8 and 12 years old. The Fire Department’s trucks are at least 22 years old; its ladder truck is in constant need of repair, Dillard said.
“We propose if this tax passes that we will replace vehicles on a five-year cycle,” he said.
Tax revenue may also be used for new facilities.
Fire Chief Ken Williams said his 25 firefighters have been housed in the same building since 1975.
“The Police Department moved to a new building, and other city offices moved,” he said. “Everybody else left. We’re still here.”
Williams said his department’s $2.2 million annual budget isn’t enough to buy needed equipment.
“Budgets are tight,” he said. “We have aging equipment. As the city keeps growing, the need for services grows.”
At least one other city in north Arkansas has been successful recently when it asked voters to support a sales tax increase to help fund service agencies.
Voters in Blytheville favored a one-half percent sales tax in May that will fund salary increases for police and firefighters. Blytheville Mayor James Sanders said officers with both departments were leaving the Mississippi County town for better-paying jobs.
The tax will be collected for 10 years, and city officials estimated it will bring in about $1.4 million a year. Blytheville residents approved the measure by a vote of 633 in favor to 400 against.
“In our day and time, a tax increase is probably unpopular,” said Mountain Home Police Chief Carry Manuel. “But we think since this is a public safety tax, people will be inclined to come out and support it.
“It is a public safety tax.”
The Police Department has 26 employees and, like the Fire Department, it has an annual budget of $2.2 million.
Manuel said his officers need new equipment such as stun guns, radios, computers, radars and cameras.
Dillard said the tax, if passed, will also pay for hiring an animal control officer and a code enforcement officer. Currently, Mountain Home police officers handle those duties when needed.
“These are essential services,” Dillard said of the police and fire departments. “We want to provide the highest quality of services we can.”
The mayor said an organization headed by a retired firefighter will hold public meetings about the tax as the election nears.
There is no public opposition to the tax proposal yet, he said.
“This is an important tax,” Dillard said. “We are seeing a boom in growth here. We have a lot of new housing starts and apartment complexes. This is a positive time for Mountain Home.
“But we need to be able to afford services. There’s a backlog of equipment that should have already been replaced.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story online listed an incorrect city in the headline.