BENTONVILLE — The county judge of Benton County has all the gavels riding on his proposal to pay for a new courts building with a sales tax increase.
“We’ve come this far with this particular plan, and if it fails in March, we don’t have a Plan B,” Barry Moehring said Wednesday. “This is a product of a lot of collaboration and compromise. There’s no other 24 months of planning in a binder on a shelf.”
Moehring told members of the Quorum Court’s Committee of the Whole on Tuesday night that he has no backup plan if voters don’t approve a temporary, one-eighth-cent sales tax in a special election in March.
His comments were in response to Justice of the Peace Mike McKenzie’s suggestion that the county should consider putting some money aside in the 2019 budget for repairs or other issues in the buildings that house the courts in case the vote fails.
The Quorum Court last month approved the second reading to set an election for the sales tax that would pay for a proposed $30 million building. The county has adopted a building design and a location on Second Street in downtown Bentonville. The third and final reading will be in December. The sales tax would be for about 54 months.
McKenzie said Moehring had told him the same thing before. McKenzie backs a new courts facility but not the proposed sales tax to pay for it.
There is no need to adjust the 2019 budget or set money aside because the county will continue to use several buildings housing the courts next year, Moehring said. The budget includes money for upkeep, security and other needs at those locations, Moehring said.
Most of Benton County’s judges are spread among buildings close to the downtown square and the Juvenile Judicial Center near the jail. Circuit judges Robin Green, John Scott and Xollie Duncan are in the main courthouse. Circuit Judge Brad Karren is across the street in the annex building, and Circuit Judge Doug Schrantz is in a building on Main Street. Circuit Judge Tom Smith is at the Juvenile Judicial Center.
“We need to look at other scenarios if it is not approved,” McKenzie said. “There is nothing I can do about it now, but I am thinking about what can we cut from the plan.”
McKenzie and Justice of the Peace Joel Edwards used West High School in Centerton as an example of what could happen if another plan is needed after the March election. The first bid to build the high school failed in June 2012. A second try cut back on some amenities and passed in September 2013. The high school opened in August 2016.
Moehring said his plan is the right one at the right time. The downtown location might not be available in the future, and backing from the Walton Family Foundation in the form of grants and a parking deck might disappear, too, he said.
“If it fails, we’re back to square one, and that’s the same square we were on decades ago,” Moehring said.
The judge plans to focus on voter education as the election nears. Moehring said the county will hold between eight and 10 town hall meetings, and he will visit with local civic groups to discuss the sales tax election.
“Once we get past this election cycle and the end of the year, we will have an information job to do with the voters,” he said.
Edwards thinks the sales tax will pass the first time around because it is tied to a special election.
“A small percentage will remember to get out and vote. They are the ones who always vote no matter what the issue is,” Edwards said, predicting it will pass “by a slim margin.”
The plan meets all the needs spelled out in hours of debate and discussion over the years, Moehring said.