FORT SMITH -- Residents of Greenwood will decide later this year whether to issue bonds for a road project designed to make traffic flow better.
The Greenwood City Council is calling for a special election to issue bonds, Greenwood City Clerk/Treasurer Sharla Derry said. Greenwood Mayor Doug Kinslow said the bonds would finance Greenwood's share of a traffic relief project between the city and the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
An ordinance approved last week states there will be two questions on the ballot on Dec. 10. Greenwood Finance Director Thomas Marsh said the first question will be whether to give the city permission to retire a 2014 bond that is already in place to generate funding for a new police station by allowing it to issue bonds in the maximum principal amount of $2.6 million.
The second question will be whether to extend the quarter-percent sales and use tax from the 2014 bond for 35 years to generate the funds the city needs for the traffic relief project, Marsh said, with bonds being issued in the maximum principal amount of $6.5 million. This would generate about $4.5 million of available funds after the city retires the debt service for the 2014 bond, which amounts to about $2.2 million.
Marsh said 2039 was the original maturity date on the 2014 bond. However, additional revenue generated from the average growth of the quarter-percent city sales and use tax of 3.4% since the 2014 bond was originally issued has been put into an escrow account to reduce the maturity date and therefore retire it early.
The city has "in effect, looked at cutting about 10 years off of that bond as it currently exists today," Marsh said. "So what we're looking for is ... a 35-year bond, which is really only a 16-year extension from what the general public originally voted on, or at least thinks the bond's going to retire at, and that's where the additional funds are going to be generated."
There would be no increase in taxes should Greenwood residents vote to pass these two issues, Marsh said, but rather an extension of a current tax.
TRAFFIC RELIEF
The Greenwood Highway 10 Capacity Improvements project would help traffic flow, Kinslow said. Greenwood has "obvious" morning and afternoon traffic issues, which stem from the east side of the city on the Arkansas 10 Spur, he said. This is because of school traffic, with there being two schools on the east side.
Kinslow said safety is another important element of the project.
"There's a lot of people, not necessarily that live in Greenwood, that come from the east side of Greenwood and beyond, Booneville and those areas, that have to come through Greenwood to get to Fort Smith to go to work," Kinslow said. "But the safety issue is that if we ever were to lose a bridge between downtown Greenwood and the east side, we would not be able to get emergency service to those folks."
"ArDOT [the Arkansas Department of Transportation] has even concluded that it's about a 60-mile trip for other emergency services to get around Greenwood and go that direction to help in case there's ... an emergency, whether it's vehicle or medical or whatever."
The traffic relief project is divided into two phases, Kinslow said. The first phase would be to build about one mile of new highway from the intersection of Arkansas 10 and Coker Street to the intersection of Arkansas 10 and Arkansas 96, which would then be added to the state highway system. Once this is done, Greenwood would assume ownership and responsibility for the portion of Arkansas 10 between Arkansas 96 and Bass Street.
The second phase of the project, Kinslow said, would be to widen about 2 miles of Arkansas 10 between Coker Street and U.S. 71. When this is finished, Greenwood would assume ownership and responsibility for the portion of Arkansas 10 between Bass Street and Elm Street, and the portion of Arkansas 10 Spur between Arkansas 10 and U.S. 71.
Kinslow said Greenwood would take over about 3 total miles of Arkansas 10 and 10 Spur when the project is finished. The total project cost is currently estimated at about $33 million. The city of Greenwood would provide 20% of the construction costs for each phase, which totals to about $5 million.
The Greenwood City Council approved an agreement of understanding between the city and the department of transportation for the traffic relief project during its regular meeting Sept. 9, according to the minutes of that meeting. The council also approved a resolution expressing the city's willingness to partner with the department for the project.
The minutes state both of these items were passed with one line removed from each. These lines each stated the city would provide all necessary right of way for phase I of the project at no cost to the department of transportation.
Kinslow said the city would instead be responsible for the right of way, or easement, on property owned by Greenwood resident James Burgess, with the department of transportation being responsible for the rest of the easements. Burgess' property would serve as the main site for the construction of phase I.
"It's about a mile in length, and I would say 90 to 95% of it will be across his property," Kinslow said. "There's three other property owners besides Dr. Burgess. The city is one, ... and then the other one is Shawn Lin, who's a businessowner here in town, and then Roger Corbin is on the opposite end of this 1-mile phase, I guess."
The state transportation department agreed to the changed arrangement through a verbal agreement after the September City Council meeting, Kinslow said. A deal between the city and Burgess to purchase about 20 acres of Burgess' property for the easement is due to be closed soon.
It was also during this September meeting that the City Council approved a resolution for commitment to call for the bond issue election, the meeting minutes state.
During its regular meeting on Oct. 7, the Greenwood City Council unanimously approved the ordinance calling a special election to issue bonds, Greenwood City Clerk/Treasurer Sharla Derry said on Wednesday.
State Desk on 10/14/2019