LITTLE ROCK — Mayor Mark Stodola says he wants voters to consider continuing but reducing a longtime capital improvements millage to pay for needed street improvements and drainage projects.
Stodola, speaking during his annual state of the city address, said a 2004 capital bond issue to maintain a 3.3 millage will be paid off this year, seven years earlier than planned. He said he plans to ask the board of directors to consider referring to voters a measure to continue the bond while reducing it to 3 mills.
"Doing so, over a 15-year payoff period, will generate an estimated $105 million for street, roadway and drainage improvements," Stodola said. "... I believe this opportunity is worthy of our consideration. It will be a tremendous shot in the arm, giving us untold opportunities as a progressive city."
Stodola said a one-cent sales tax increase last year will allow the city to make more than $70 million worth of street improvements over the next 10 years, but that that will cover only a fraction of identified projects.
The mayor, speaking at the Dunbar Community Center, called the sales-tax vote a "commanding victory" that will lead to a number of improvements across the city.