North Little Rock city officials plan to cap the tax revenue the Parks and Recreation Department receives next year in order to use the rest of the funds on the planned Argenta Plaza.
The parks department, Advertising and Promotion Commission and Mayor Joe Smith agreed to cap the money the department gets in 2020 from the city's prepared food and lodging taxes at about $6.3 million.
Officials plan to include the measure in the 2020 budget proposal, which will need City Council approval.
Smith predicted that the taxes will bring in more revenue next year, which would have gone to the Parks and Recreation budget. But the cap will redirect the extra money to the Advertising and Promotion Commission.
"We are expecting to get an additional $200,000 from the change," commission President Bob Major said. "It is just an estimate that we got from these change of allocations."
The ad commission used to pull about 13.5% of the funds from the taxes, but in 2020, it will draw 16.5% from the tax on prepared food, Major said.
"That is where the potential $200,000 could come from," he said. "The main thing this will do is streamline things for the city."
The extra money will be added to the commission's general operating budget to develop the plaza, Major said.
The city's $5.4 million plaza project at 510 Main St. -- to feature jetted fountains with LED-lit streams of water, a 50-foot-long cascading water wall and a 40-foot-tall video screen -- is billed by city officials as a gathering place for downtown residents, workers and visitors.
"It will give us a Google-campus-like atmosphere," Smith said Tuesday during a tour of the plaza and future Convention and Visitors Bureau and Visitors Center building. "This [is] what millennials want."
The extra revenue from the tax change will allow the commission to get furniture, security, equipment and more for the plaza.
The tax change also means less revenue for the parks department because the two groups pull from the same tax dollars. But department Director Terry Hartwick said he isn't overly concerned because his department will still get at least $6 million.
"We structured an agreement that satisfies all," Hartwick said. "We are all dipping out of the same pot."
The effect on the department will be small, Hartwick said.
"We may not be able to get new roofing for all the pavilions or fix certain sidewalks," he said. "But I would trade all of this for the plaza. I get a plaza that will bring many more people to this city. This plaza will be special, and it will need to be taken care of."
Hartwick said his department has operated on less than the promised amount with the cap.
"It's for only one year," he said. "Right now it's an even trade, but maybe in 2021 the administration could work out something where the parks department would receive more money."
Hartwick formally announced his campaign to become the city's mayor earlier this month.
Metro on 10/21/2019