ROGERS -- The city could build a fire station, a 70-acre park on its west side, east-west roads with interstate overpasses and other improvements around town under a proposed $180 million bond issue.
Mayor Greg Hines and other city officials unveiled the plan Friday and said they hope residents can vote on the measure as soon as August. The plan would pick up where a 2011 bond issue left off and relies on extending a 1-cent sales tax to pay back the bonds over the next decade or two.
Meeting information
Rogers City Council
When: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 22
Where: Rogers City Hall, 301 W. Chestnut St.
"It's vitally important for the community to continue to invest in this way," Hines told a crowd of Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce members, local elected officials and others at Embassy Suites in Rogers. "It's your community. It's your future."
The 2011 bond issue brought in around $130 million, which created the Aquatics Center near New Hope Road, paid for improvements at Lake Atalanta and helped expand and improve Pinnacle Hills Parkway and other streets.
Hines emphasized the tax behind the bond issues isn't new and added he's committed to spending the money wisely and for maximum effect if city voters approve the issue. Rogers charges a 2 percent sales tax, but only half goes to bonds and would be up for a vote.
The City Council would call a special election on the issue under Hines' plan during its next meeting May 22, so the election could happen Aug. 14. Hines said he wants the election as soon as possible, rather than waiting for the general election in November, to avoid higher interest rates on debt.
The proposed bonds would bring more than $30 million for parks and trails, including creating a park off Mt. Hebron Road, roughly between the interstate and Cave Springs. The 2011 bonds helped buy around 70 acres there, which could hold sports fields and courts, a playground accessible to kids with disabilities, a pond and lots of open space, Parks and Recreation Director Jim White said.
More would go to upgrading the city's Northwest Park with eight baseball fields and other facilities.
The bulk of the bonds, roughly $125 million, would go to streets, including improvement of Arkansas Street around downtown. Rogers Community Development Director John McCurdy said the road work could kickstart development east of downtown and attract people.
Other street projects would extend roads, such as Oak Street, or build new ones to connect either side of the interstate. McCurdy said Rogers is trying to bring the traditional, grid-based layout of downtown to the rest of the city, which can cut congestion by providing multiple paths to any one location.
Another $17 million or so would be aimed at police and firefighters. Hines said he wants to build an eighth fire station near Arkansas 112 to improve emergency response on the city's west side.
The chamber's board attended the meeting and voted to endorse it.
"This is needs, not wants," chamber President and CEO Raymond Burns said, urging attendees and others to attend the May 22 council meeting and voice their support.
Several City Council members attended the meeting. Buddy Wright, who represents Ward 1 through the end of the year, wasn't among them, but said he nonetheless wanted to keep the city's road projects going.
"I'd support that for sure," he said Friday afternoon.
NW News on 05/12/2018