LITTLE ROCK — Searcy voters will decide Tuesday whether to approve a sales tax aimed at funding a new road connecting Arkansas 36 and U.S. 67 in White County.
The 1 percent sales-anduse tax also would finance major improvements to North Main Street and Davis Drive, which would be used as connector arteries. The bypass would begin on the north side of Arkansas 36 across from Honey Hill Road and end at Exit 48 of U.S. 67 in Judsonia. If approved, the city tax would take effect April 1. It would expire June 30, 2013. Searcy now has a half-percent sales tax. Early voting began last week on the measure, which comes three months after White County voters rejected a 1 percent countywide sales tax that would have helped fund the bypass project around Searcy, as well as economic development and road repairs in the county’s 16 towns.
Searcy Mayor David Morris said last week that he was “very optimistic at this point” about the city election.
The county tax proposal, he noted, was for 21 months compared with the city’s 15-month plan. Unlike the county’s, the city’s proposal would fund only road projects.
Further, Searcy voters supported the county proposal in September, he said.
Even though about 55 percent of the county’s voters rejected that measure and about 45 percent supported it, Morris said, “those numbers were just about reversed in the city of Searcy.”
The city tax would generate about $7.5 million in revenue. Of that amount, $3 million would go for the city’s matching funds to the state and federal money for the bypass project, and $4.2 million would go for work on the two local streets.
If any money — perhaps $300,000 — is left over, Morris said, “that will be used to improve existing city streets in Searcy.”
There’s also no major organized opposition to the city proposal. Nicholas Horton, the Searcy resident who headed a group against the county proposal, said that the organization has since dissolved.
“We are not doing anything organized on this tax,” Horton said.
“There’s no doubt that we need street repairs ... and people are willing to pay for those repairs.
“A lot of people would be willing to pay more if they had a guarantee that these improvements would come about.”
Searcy’s administration has “done a much better job” with this ordinance proposal by providing an automatic sunset clause and by saying specifically that the money can go only for roads and other infrastructure improvements, Horton said.
“So the language is very restrictive as opposed to past ordinances,” Horton said.
Still, he said, “I haven’t quite decided” how to vote.
Despite the White County proposal’s failure at the polls, the county will still contribute its $3 million share of the funds needed for the bypass project, Morris said.
“The Quorum Court ... voted in November to set aside $1 million per year out of existing” funds, Morris said. “The problem is, the city did not have the funds available” without a tax increase.
The state plans to take bids on the first segment of the project in the fall. Construction would be under way by 2014, and if all goes as he hopes, “We should be driving on it by late 2015,” Morris said.
The project would also give the central Arkansas city more room to expand its residential, business and commercial areas, the mayor said. It also would free the downtown area of heavy truck traffic, he said.
The proposed bypass would provide “a huge economic boon” to the area, Morris said.
“It would pump $60 million” into the area through construction-related work alone, he said. That’s not counting long-term economic benefits, he added.
The mayor said he tells voters to “think about where Searcy would be today without the Beebe Capps Expressway running through town.
“And fast forward five, 10, 15, 20 years down the line, and try to think where we would be without this new connector route around town.”
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 12/12/2011