Little Rock’s Citizen Evaluation of the New Tax Committee didn’t get any answers Wednesday as to why receipts from the city’s sales tax are lagging this year.
The committee was given the same financial information at its meeting that the Little Rock Board of Directors got earlier this month - the city collected 0.64 percent less revenue from the new sales tax rate in the first six months of 2013 than it did in the first six months of 2012.
Little Rock Finance Director Sara Lenehan told the Board of Directors on Sept. 3 that a report from the state Department of Finance and Administration is to be released this fall detailing how different economic sectors are faring in terms of tax collection. As of the meeting Wednesday, the report had not been released.
Without the breakdown, it was unclear why the sales tax collections were lagging compared with the city’s booming hospitality tax on prepared foods and hotel stays as well as continued reports of increases in the state’s tax revenue.
A 1 percentage-point increase in the city’s sales tax was approved by voters in September 2011 and went into effect in January 2012. The proposal put before voters split the revenue, with a tax of five-eighths percent dedicated to city operating expenses and a tax of three-eighths percent dedicated to capital projects. The three-eighths percent tax will sunset in 2021. Before January 2012, the city’s sales tax was 0.5 percent.
Lenehan said that through the end of June, the city had collected more than $69 million from the new sales-tax rate.
That money has been spent on a number of initiatives so far, as detailed by the city’s department heads Wednesday.
Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas pointed to an area next door to the Willie Hinton Resource Center, where the meeting was held.
“You can see our progress on the 12th Street Police Substation with all the dirt moving next door,” he said.
The city broke ground on the new substation on July 24. Costs were higher than estimated, and approval by the Board of Directors stalled for a while as city officials had lengthy talks about whether all project costs estimated during the sales-tax campaign would increase.
Citizen Evaluation of the New Tax Committee member Troy Laha asked where the almost $2 million difference in the roughly $12.5 million building had been found.
Assistant City Manager Bryan Day said the money was found through short-term financing options and in other funds in the city’s budget.
The Police Department has also engaged in an ambitious hiring campaign to increase patrol officers, as well as 911 and 311 operators. Eighteen new patrol officers graduated in May, and 40 more are to graduate in December.
He said there are 13 open 911 and 311 operator positions being advertised.
Thomas said the Police Department has also been looking at at least two properties along Cantrell Road west of Interstate 430 to place a substation for northwest Little Rock. He said the department is trying to stay below its $1 million allocation to renovate and rent the building, then build a $250,000 fueling station.
He said he hoped to have a contract signed and be able to start work by the end of the year.
Other large department expenditures included:
Fleet Services has received 117 new or used vehicles, ordered seven others and plans for three more, including a snow plow.
The Little Rock Zoo has hired several pivotal staff members, including a carnivore curator. It has built a new habitat for the tigers it hoped would mate - a move that staff members said Wednesday they think was successful - and plans for renovations at the chimpanzee, bear and otter exhibits.
Public Works completed all but one of the road, drainage and street repaving projects started in 2012, and has sent most of the 2013 projects out for the design phase. Workers have also completed 40,461 square feet of sidewalk since July 2012.
Housing and Neighborhood Programs hired the last four of 20 needed code enforcement officers, who started training on Sept. 9. They have two remaining animal services-officer positions to fill.
Planning and Development hired a building inspector, two geographic information system employees and two zoning enforcement officers, among others.
Community Programs had awarded four contracts for re-entry services, two of which are for job-placement services to help people re-entering the city population after incarceration or internment in other institutions. The group also began plans to target the underemployed and high school populations with job-skill training.
Parks and Recreation will reopen the Centre at University Park, the $3.22 million replacement for the former Adult Leisure Center, which was destroyed in a fire several years ago. The department has also started on some of the planned $4.5 million in fixes to city parks. Some of the $500,000 worth of renovations planned at War Memorial Park will begin after Razorback football season is over, including restoration of Coleman Creek.
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 09/19/2013