Mayor Joe Smith's strategy, to get in front of the community as many times as he could to show North Little Rock voters why the city needed to increase its revenue, paid off Tuesday with the approval of a 1 percentage-point increase in the city's sales tax.
The expected $16 million in annual revenue from the tax increase will be divided between a one-half percent permanent tax for city operations and a one-half percent tax to last five years for a new police and courts building, an upgrade of fire stations, and street and drainage improvements.
Unofficial results, with all 27 precincts reporting, were:
For 2,786
Against 1,925
The approval will raise the city's sales tax to 2 percent and the overall sales tax for consumers in North Little Rock to 9.5 percent. The total includes a 6.5 percent state tax and a 1 percent Pulaski County tax. Collection of the new tax will begin Jan. 1.
Smith made presentations and took questions at 44 meetings in the past two months, including five town halls as well as events in front of neighborhood associations, business organizations and community groups.
"My goal all along was to get in front of as many people as I could to show them the numbers, get the facts out and tell the truth," Smith said Tuesday evening at an election watch party at the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, which led the election campaign. "The numbers don't lie. Just us taking the time and speaking to the people one-on-one."
Turnout was 12.1 percent of the city's registered voters, according to the Pulaski County Election Commission. The vote total was lower than in North Little Rock's failed sales tax effort in 2011 that totaled just under 5,300 votes.
The election comes during a month in which city department heads are preparing their budgets for next year. The mayor will present a final budget in October or November for the City Council's consideration.
"This gives us an opportunity to continue the things we're doing and maybe more," Smith said. "This keeps a full police and fire force, lets us continue economic growth and continue to make North Little Rock a special place."
Kenny Wallis, who led an opposition effort, Stop the 2017 North Little Rock Sales Tax, said Tuesday night that the chamber's hiring of a consulting firm to manage the campaign was geared toward "making sure people don't care about government waste."
"They [voters] were scared into thinking this was the only way to save the police and fire stations," Wallis said. "We can only hope we can force some kind of budget reform. We need new city leadership."
Chamber President John Owens called the successful campaign "a team effort, starting with the mayor."
"I think most people understood what we're doing and how we're doing," Owens said. "People want to see North Little Rock keep moving forward."
Without the added tax revenue, North Little Rock was staring at $5 million in cutbacks next year or the possibility of implementing a sanitation fee, Smith had repeated during his presentations. North Little Rock has offered free sanitation service since city voters approved the current 1 percent city sales tax in March 2000, a promise city officials made that year to encourage voters to pass that tax.
The city's financial problems, Smith said, mainly stemmed from expenditures increasing by 3.5 percent annually in the past 10 years, according to city figures, while its combined city and county sales tax revenue only grew by an annual rate of 0.3 percent.
Smith has said that he also wants to build up the city's reserve fund, which has dropped from about $13.2 million to about $9 million since last year. The city transferred that $4.2 million to balance this year's budget, which included 2 percent raises for employees and elected officials.
The one-half percent tax for capital improvements is projected to raise about $40 million over the next five years: $20 million for a new police and courts building, $10 million for fire station upgrades and $10 million for streets and drainage issues. The street and drainage funds will be shared evenly among each of the city's four wards, Smith has said, with $500,000 available to each ward per year for the next five years. The current budget allows $75,000 per ward annually.
North Little Rock's election was one of the first to test a new state law that took effect this month to require voters to show photo identification or sign sworn statements confirming their identities before casting ballots.
There was at least one instance Tuesday in which workers at a polling location didn't follow new procedures for allowing a ballot to be cast without identification, Bryan Poe, Pulaski County elections director, said Tuesday afternoon. However, the voter called the Election Commission and was able to return to cast a ballot, he said.
"Basically, the judge forgot to give her an actual ballot, but I was able to get her a ballot," Poe said. "I was able to talk to them and get things straightened out. There was just that one complaint."
Metro on 08/09/2017