FORT SMITH -- The Sebastian County Election Commission issued a notice Monday setting the March 12 special election for a nine-month 1 percent sales tax to raise money to complete the U.S. Marshals Museum.
Fort Smith directors voted last month to call for the election on the tax that, if passed, would generate an estimated $15.5 million for the cost of building and installing the exhibits and displays in the 50,000-square-foot museum that is under construction on the banks of the Arkansas River.
The notice issued by the election commission Monday, calling it the Municipal Special Marshal Tax Election, contained the wording of the ballot question:
"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 of any further expense to the City or the public facilities board."
Early voting for the election will run from March 5 to March 11. Early voting will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Room G8 at the Sebastian County Courthouse, 35 S. Sixth St.
Voting on election day will be from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at 19 vote centers around Fort Smith.
The deadline for registering to vote for the special election is Monday, according to the county clerk's office.
Museum officials asked city directors to call the election because donations for the $50 million project have run dry and construction had to start in July to avoid having to pay rising steel and labor costs, they said.
The U.S. Marshals Service's national museum is scheduled to open Sept. 24, the 230th anniversary of President George Washington's establishment of the nation's oldest federal law enforcement agency.
Public meetings have been scheduled by the museum to answer people's questions about the need for the tax.
One of three meetings already has been held.
The next two meetings, both of which will be from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., have been set for Feb. 13 at the Fort Smith Senior Activity Center at 2700 Cavanaugh Road and for Feb. 27 at the Elm Grove Community Center at 1901 N. Greenwood Ave.
Opposition to the tax has risen in the community. About 75 people attended a panel discussion last week set up by the group Citizens Against Unfair Taxation, which aired several concerns about passage of the tax.
Among the arguments were that holding a special election instead a general election was an attempt by those who favor the tax to take advantage of traditional low voter turnout for a special election.
Museum Foundation President Jim Dunn said a large donation request fell through last summer, leading to the need for the tax but not leaving enough time to mount a campaign in time for it to be on the Nov. 6 general election ballot.
Opponents have expressed concern that the tax would be added to an already-high local sales tax rate, now at 9.75 percent, and that it would come after voters approved an increase in the property tax last year. They also expressed fear that the tax would become permanent, and mistrust of municipal officeholders and museum officials that the money would be used properly.
Questions also were raised about whether a public facilities board was just a way to get around the prohibition of giving public money for a private museum.
Museum officials say the public facilities board would allow the museum to legally use the tax money for the museum because the board would own the grounds and building, and the museum would lease the property and operate the museum.
State Desk on 02/05/2019