CONWAY -- Voters will go to the polls Tuesday to decide whether to raise Conway's city sales tax rate to finance street repairs, improvements and maintenance.
The proposed 0.375 percentage-point increase would increase the city's total sales tax rate to 9.125 percent and would generate an additional $5.1 million annually. It would expire March 31, 2023.
Mayor Bart Castleberry said the revenue would go for work on arterial and collector streets and that none of the money would be used to build new streets. The $1.4 million the state gets annually in state turnback funds would finance repairs on neighborhood streets, he said.
"As for [a complaint that] taxes don't go away, this has a sunset clause," Castleberry said. "In five years, it goes away. The only way it can come back" is through a vote of the people. "It's real simple. ... No action by the mayor or the City Council can change that sunset."
The city recently obtained a street-management software program that rates streets most in need of repairs, Castleberry said. That way, he said, street selection won't be "done politically."
Streets overlaid this year in Conway were those the city didn't get to in 2016 and were chosen before the city had the new software, the mayor said.
Lists of streets recommended for repairs and improvements are available on the city's website, cityofconway.org. The lists are broken down according to the kind of work under consideration for each group of streets -- overlays, roundabouts and widenings, for instance. A copy of the proposed ordinance also is there.
Castleberry said the thing he hears most often from residents is that the streets need repairs. He said he's studied other revenue sources.
"This is the most fair and efficient way to do it," he said.
Among those opposed to the measure is Mark Elsinger, who unsuccessfully ran for mayor against Castleberry and previously the former mayor, Tab Townsell.
Elsinger, a retired police major, said he doesn't believe "that we can depend on what they [the mayor and the City Council] say."
"There's no question the streets need working on," Elsinger said. "But based on their history ... they never hardly follow through on exactly what they're going to do. ... It usually winds up getting spent on other items.
"It's a trust issue, and we don't believe they will do what they say."
Castleberry became mayor in January after Townsell did not seek re-election. Elsinger contended Castleberry "is following the same speed" as Townsell.
Castleberry, however, said the city has spent the money as it should have.
"All people have to do is research and get the facts for themselves," the mayor said. "You can go on the city's website and get those ordinances and pull City Council minutes and see where" those monies were spent. "Everything is transparent. Everything is out there."
Elsinger also said residents should get to vote on the issue during a general election, not on a one-issue election date when many people won't go to the polls. The next general election in Arkansas is in 2018.
But Castleberry said the cost estimate of street repairs needing to be done now is $45 million and will increase if delayed.
"Our streets degrade by 7 percent each year. That's $3.1 million every year. The special election is costing us between $2,800 and $3,000," he said. "I could have waited another year" for the tax vote. But then, he said, "Instead of $45 million, we'd be at $48.1 million.
Castleberry has said the life of some streets can be extended by 10 to 12 years if the city overlays them now.
"If we continue to maintain them [after the overlay], we can increase their ages up to 20 years," he said.
State Desk on 11/13/2017