Little Rock city leaders, locals speak on one-cent sales tax on November ballot
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Little Rock city leaders are speaking out on a measure residents in the capital city will see on their ballots with early voting just days away.
The one-cent sales tax on the ballots of Little Rock residents is estimated to bring in $650 million to Little Rock over the next 10 years if accepted by voters, Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said.
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The mayor summed up the goal of the tax with four Ps: public safety, parks & recreation maintenance, public infrastructure & Little Rock Port and economic development.
"We have to fill our potholes, we have to make certain that we take care of police and firemen and we pick up our trash," Scott said. "They have to have those essential services so we can grow together. Every city in the state of Arkansas relies on sales tax, so that's the only way a city can grow and do the things it needs to do."
Officials said five-eighths of the one-cent sales tax is temporary and will fall off after ten years. A separate question on the ballot associated with the sales tax is regarding the other three-eighths of it, which is said to be permanent if the tax passes.
For Little Rock police, the money from the sales tax increase is slated to provide more advanced technology for the Real Time Crime Center and help with the city's continued effort to get more vehicles for officers.
"Having better fleet on the road, having better technology not only protects the officers, it protects the citizens and it allows us to give a better quality service to the people of Little Rock, which is what we swore an oath to do," Little Rock Fraternal Order of Police president Ronnie Morgan said.
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When it comes to the Little Rock Fire Department, the money is expected to fund a new west Little Rock station, along with providing an apparatus replacement plan, meaning new and improved fire trucks for the city.
"With a yes vote, we have an opportunity to address an aging fleet and to provide more adequate coverage to a part of our city that desperately needs it," LR Firefighters Local 34 president Matthew Stallings said. "If you give us the resources, the equipment, the response time capabilities, then we're gonna continue to give y'all the first-class fire department you deserve."
One southwest Little Rock resident, Norma Huffman, who is also a part of Arkansas Community Organizations, spoke with KARK 4 News about her concerns over the sales tax. She said she feels it needs to be geared more towards lower-income families and the southwest and central areas of Little Rock.
"This sales tax is saying that everybody's gonna get the same amount," Huffman said. "That's not what needs to be happening. What needs to be happening is the money being allotted more towards the parts of town that need it the most."
Huffman said the priority for the money should be fixing the streets, developing public parks for kids who do not have one nearby, and helping keep southwest Little Rock cleaner.
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The majority of these priorities are ones Little Rock's mayor said will be addressed if the sales tax passes.
Huffman also said that the additional funds intended to go to LRPD, while in large part are necessary, should also focus on more regular patrolling around her neighborhood in southwest Little Rock.
When asked about the concerns from lower to middle-income families, Scott said he believes the low-income residents "know we're there for them."
"I believe the residents- particularly the low-income residents- they know we're there for them," Scott said. "Particularly the work we do for affordable housing.... things we do for community programs."
Scott added that his team, along with city leaders, will continue to work with these families and organizations like Arkansas Community Organizations to determine ways the city can help address needs.
According to the mayor's newsletter last week, money brought in from the sales tax increase will also provide millions for other projects, addressing things like homelessness and affordable housing in Little Rock.
Arkansas early voting opens Monday: What to know
Early voting begins Monday, Oct. 21, with Election Day following on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
