Editor's note: This is the fourth and final article in a series detailing North Little Rock's plans for funding from a proposed 1 percentage-point city sales tax increase. Today's focus is the one-half percent, five-year portion of the tax that would include improvements for streets and drainage systems.
When Joe Smith first campaigned for North Little Rock mayor in 2012, he often repeated "streets, streets, streets" as being among the biggest concerns he heard about from residents.
Since Smith took office in 2013, North Little Rock has undertaken street resurfacing on many of its main thoroughfares, most notably along Main Street, McCain Boulevard, Bethany Street, Pershing Boulevard and North Hills Boulevard.
If a 1 percentage-point increase in the city sales tax passes in an Aug. 8 special election, more street and drainage improvements would be possible in more neighborhoods, Smith has said during this summer's tax campaign.
Early voting on the tax proposal begins Tuesday in the William F. Laman Public Library at 2801 Orange St. and in the Pulaski County Regional Building at 501 W. Markham St. in Little Rock.
The 1 percentage-point increase is to provide one-half percentage point for capital projects for street and drainage improvements, the police and courts building, and fire stations. That portion of the tax would last five years, with $10 million to go for streets and drainage over that period The total annual projected revenue is $16 million.
The other one-half percentage point would be permanent revenue for city operations.
The added street and drainage revenue would increase funds for each of the city's four wards from $75,000 per year now to $500,000 per year, according to city projections.
"The mayor had really focused on streets that are in bad condition that serve the most people," said Chief City Engineer Chris Wilbourn, who oversees the Public Works Department. "We have plenty of projects we can do with that money. A lot of it would be for drainage projects."
Public Works deals with any work within the city's street right of way, including driving surfaces, curbs, sidewalks, ditches and sewers.
The city has identified problems on all streets, with a list of hundreds of needed projects on a master list, city spokesman Nathan Hamilton said.
Some questioners at recent public meetings with Smith have asked about other projects for which the city spends money that might instead go to street and drainage needs. Specifically asked about were the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum -- or "the submarine," as questioners have said -- and the Rock Region Metro streetcar system, formerly River Rail.
North Little Rock budgets $339,180 as its share of the streetcar's costs, its part of a partnership with Little Rock and Pulaski County. The streetcar has about 100,000 riders annually, according to the Rock Region Metro website.
The museum with the World War II-era Razorback submarine, now under the city's Parks and Recreation Department, received a $50,000 transfer from this year's general fund budget after a $150,000 transfer last year.
"It spins off economic development," Smith said about the maritime museum at a meeting Thursday evening, adding that it is one of the area amenities that entice tourists to "stay one more night."
"The numbers will surprise you," he said. "The economic impact for the submarine is huge."
As an example of needed street work, Hamilton took a reporter to Magnolia and 20th streets recently, where a nearby sewer had collapsed into a sinkhole and has been blocked off.
"This [sewer] is one of those on our project list to get done as soon as we find the money," Hamilton said.
Magnolia Street is dotted with multiple black patches, the result, Hamilton said, of a series of temporary fixes.
"How many times has this been patched? At least 20 patches," he said. "I am not proud of this street. But we do not have the money to get into the neighborhoods. We allocate $300,000 a year total for the wards' street and drainage fund. If this [tax] passes, we'll be spending $2 million a year."
Drainage projects can turn up unexpected problems because of the underground work necessary, which can mean repairs expanding in scope and in price once work begins, Wilbourn said. An example is work underway off Glenmere Road and Fairway Avenue, where sewer repairs are extending through residents' backyards, he said.
A "fairly large" sinkhole was identified, and bids were taken for the repair of what was at first believed to just involve a wastewater sewer line, Wilbourn said.
Once work began, the problem was found to be a collapsed stormwater line. Then an older stormwater pipe was discovered beneath the first pipe and another sewer line. All three lines essentially run parallel to one another, Wilbourn said, plus there are multiple sanitary sewer lines coming from the homes that tie into the sewer main line.
"This is what can happen," Wilbourn said. "This project has grown from a $25,000 project to a $100,000 project. And once we're done, it will be somewhere around [a] $135,000-$145,000 project with a sanitary sewer issue being added onto it.
Metro on 07/30/2017