FAYETTEVILLE -- Several justices of the peace say they will not ask voters to pay higher sales tax to preserve green space in Northwest Arkansas.
The Quorum Court will consider an ordinance to put a request for a one-eighth percent sales tax increase on the November ballot during its regular meeting Thursday.
Meeting
When: 6 p.m. Thursday
Where: Washington County Courthouse
What: The open space plan is available on the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission website, http://nwarpc.org/o…
Source: Staff report
Supporters of the Northwest Arkansas Open Space Plan, including the Trust for Public Lands and the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust, want the Quorum Court to let voters decide on the plan's funding, which would come from a 20-year, $65 million bond issue paid for with the sales tax.
The bond proceeds would be matched and leveraged with other private and public money to buy land from owners who want to see it protected from development. Land would only be purchased from willing sellers.
The plan hasn't gotten much support from justices of the peace.
Benton County justices of the peace declined in June to put the sales tax on the ballot. A Washington County committee decided against moving the idea forward in July.
Justice of the Peace Ann Harbison, a Democrat representing southern Washington County, agreed to sponsor the ordinance. The move bypasses the committee's decision.
Harbison said Thursday she isn't sure she will vote for the ordinance she sponsored, but several justices of the peace have said they won't support it.
"I think it's a regressive tax," Justice of the Peace Sue Madison, a Democrat representing southeastern Fayetteville. "My district has a lot of low-income people in it. Sales taxes are hardest on poor people."
Madison said the sales tax creates dedicated funding for the Open Space plan that cannot be diverted or overseen by elected officials in cases of emergency. It's also unclear what would happen to the property if the entities overseeing it cease to exist, Madison said.
"I'm voting against it. I've got to vote the way the people are telling me," said Justice of the Peace Robert Dennis, a Republican representing the area including Farmington.
The county should not be involved in buying land or overseeing the real estate, several justices of the peace said.
"I don't think the county needs to be buying property and just holding it," Dennis said.
Backers of the open space plan say it has broad public appeal, according to a survey of about 400 Washington County voters in May. When told the average annual household cost would be an additional $18 in taxes, voter support increased to 64 percent from 59 percent.
Madison said she is skeptical of the survey. Several people in her district had never heard of the Open Space Plan, she said.
The Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission and local governments created the latest version of an Open Space Plan in 2016. The plan includes a detailed map of the parks, woods, streams and pastures that hold the most value to the region's residents and wildlife, and is meant, in part, to protect water quality, proponents say.
Justice of the Peace Harvey Bowman, a Republican representing northern Springdale, said he is unsure the plan protects water quality and streams more than if more money went to improving county roads, ditches and creek banks.
The top pollutant to streams and Beaver Lake is sediment, according to the Beaver Watershed Alliance.
Plus, the county already has enough funding needs, Madison said.
Justices of the peace are considering asking voters next year for a sales tax to expand and operate the county jail. Budgeting sessions for the 2019 budget start soon, and the county has a $5 million deficit between expected revenue and expenditures in this year's $68 million budget.
Reserves are shrinking, and there are only so many places justices of the peace can go to fund county needs, Madison said.
NW News on 08/13/2018