The Little Rock Board of Directors on Tuesday approved an ordinance calling a Sept. 14 special election for residents to vote on Mayor Frank Scott Jr.'s proposed sales-tax increase.
The vote was 6-3-1, with City Director Ken Richardson of Ward 2 voting "present."
Scott has proposed the 1 percentage-point sales-tax increase as a way to generate an estimated $53 million in annual revenue and pay for an array of quality-of-life initiatives. They include major renovations to Hindman and War Memorial parks, more money for community-oriented policing, additions to the Little Rock Zoo and an early-childhood education framework.
The "Rebuild the Rock" proposal was first laid out in the mayor's 2021 State of the City virtual broadcast March 25 after initial efforts to enact a tax increase last year were derailed by the coronavirus pandemic.
The package was not immediately embraced by board members. They raised questions about how federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act would factor into the city's budget and suggested greater emphasis on public safety.
Nevertheless, on Tuesday, the balance of support for the referendum seemed to have tipped decisively in the mayor's favor after significant developments played out over the past week.
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Ward 3 City Director Kathy Webb last week had asked that the sales-tax package be brought back for consideration earlier than planned. She and her colleagues had voted to table the package until July in an 8-2 vote last month, rebuffing Scott's initial request for a July 13 special election.
After Webb made her request, a major change was quietly unveiled when meeting materials were released Friday. Under the revised version of the special-election ordinance approved Tuesday, the sales tax would sunset at the end of 2031 after 10 years, instead of remaining on the city's books in perpetuity, as Scott had requested.
If the tax increase is approved in September, Little Rock's local sales-tax rate would increase by five-eighths percent (0.625%) starting in January because a separate sales tax of three-eighths percent (0.375%) used to fund capital improvements is scheduled to expire at the end of this year.
The overall local rate would be 9.625% in 2022 when accounting for state and county sales taxes.
Scott has said the increase would put Little Rock on a similar footing with comparable cities in the region with regard to their local sales-tax rates. He has suggested the projects funded by the tax would prove transformative for the city.
On the ordinance to call the election, directors Webb, Erma Hendrix, Capi Peck, B.J. Wyrick, Dean Kumpuris and Antwan Phillips voted yes. Hendrix voted "present" at first before changing her vote to yes.
Directors Joan Adcock and Doris Wright as well as Vice Mayor Lance Hines voted no.
Another ordinance to levy the tax was adopted in a 7-3 vote after it was amended to reflect the sunset date.
The meeting was the scene of repeated roll-call votes, questions of parliamentary procedure and moments of apparent confusion on Hendrix's part regarding which item board members were voting on. Nevertheless, a majority consistently voted in favor of moving ahead with the tax increase.
Even so, an emergency clause to make the special-election ordinance take effect immediately failed when Richardson and Hendrix voted "present" during what turned out to be a 5-3-2 vote.
City Attorney Tom Carpenter suggested the decision meant the city could notify Pulaski County that the election has been scheduled, but the county would not have to recognize the election ordinance until July 14. It is unclear whether the absence of an emergency clause would present issues with the timing of the election.
Additionally, a vote on a separate resolution laying out categories of spending and particular initiatives under the Rebuild the Rock package failed to gain enough support. The vote to adopt the spending resolution was 5-4-1, with Richardson voting "present." The mayor could not exercise his traditional power to vote in case of a tie because the result was not a tie, Carpenter said.
After Phillips moved to expunge the decision, his motion failed in a 7-3 vote after Carpenter determined that the measure required a two-thirds majority. The motion required eight votes to pass because the mayor counted as one of the board's members, Carpenter told a reporter while the board was engaged in an executive session.
At one point during the meeting, Hines of Ward 5, a consistent critic of the mayor's proposal, recalled the previous sales tax passed in 2011. He said that "was done equitably and had support of more than a majority of our board members."
He said "it's very apparent that the mayor has his votes to get this on the ballot."
Hines added, "I don't think that the way this sales-tax proposal's been put together is in any way unifying for this board or for this city."
Webb told reporters after the meeting that concerns about a sunset date, the money Little Rock expects to receive from the federal government and greater specificity on spending had been resolved.
She said city directors will take up the spending resolution again within the next two weeks.
"Most of the concerns my constituents raised were addressed, and now I feel like it's up to them to decide," Webb said.
Asked about the defeat of the spending resolution, Webb suggested that "maybe people are still trying to get a concession or so from the mayor, but I felt good about the overarching themes that I had raised that he was very willing to address."
Webb said the tax "will open the door to opportunities." She said the package passed by a good margin.
"You know, we have a fiduciary responsibility to the voters to put the best package forward, and I think that's what we're in the process of doing," she said. "And then it'll be up to them."