FORT SMITH -- Weeks of debate over whether to devote public sales tax money for the private nonprofit U.S. Marshals Museum will come to an end today as voters go to the polls in a special election to decide whether residents should pay for completion of the museum.
Voters will decide whether to approve a 1 percent sales tax for nine months that would raise $15.5 million to $16 million and allow museum officials to build the exhibit experience that will tell the 230-year story of the U.S. Marshals Service.
Polls are open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the 19 vote centers around Fort Smith. Voters can cast ballots at any vote center, the locations of which can be found on the Sebastian County website.
The ballot reads:
"Adoption of a one percent (1%) local sales and use tax within the City of Fort Smith, Arkansas, (the "City") for a period of nine (9) months with the tax ending on the last day of the nine (9) month period. The net collections of the tax after deduction of the administrative charges of the State of Arkansas and required rebates will be used to acquire a facility to be known as the United States Marshals Museum (the "Marshals Museum"). The City will form an independent public facilities board which will purchase the Marshals Museum and lease it back to the U.S. Marshals Museum, Inc., an Arkansas nonprofit corporation, under a long-term lease with a nominal rental, free and clear from any further expenses to the City or the public facilities board."
Early voting began March 5 at the Sebastian County Courthouse in downtown Fort Smith and ended at 5 p.m. Monday. As of 2:30 p.m. Monday, 2,942 people had voted early, according to the Sebastian County clerk's office.
Fort Smith city directors in December passed two ordinances to levy the temporary tax and to call for today's special election.
Construction of the 50,000-square-foot, $19.1 million museum on the banks of the Arkansas River began in July with an announced opening date of Sept. 24, the 230th anniversary of the establishment of the nation's oldest federal law enforcement agency by President George Washington.
Museum officials plan to dedicate the museum and Samuel M. Sicard Hall of Honor on Sept. 24, but they say it won't be open to the public until next year.
Museum officials asked directors for the one-time tax because a large potential donation fell through last summer and other donations dried up. The museum lacked the $15.3 million needed to design and build the exhibit experience inside the museum. If the tax fails, officials said, the museum will have to delay opening of the museum while they try to raise the needed funds through donations.
Museum officials held three public meetings at which they answered residents' questions, described how the museum would tell the U.S. Marshals Service's story, and talked about the museum's ongoing mission of civic literacy to educate the public about the Constitution, law enforcement and the rule of law; the deep connection Fort Smith has with the U.S. Marshals Service; and the need for voters to approve the tax.
Opponents held two public meetings where they said it was unfair for public funds to be used by a private entity for a private museum, that Fort Smith residents cannot bear another tax increase, that the proposed public facilities board would circumvent the Arkansas Constitution, and that museum officials would ask for another tax if they could not pay museum expenses.
State Desk on 03/12/2019