The Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce has yet to take a position on the Little Rock sales-tax referendum set for Sept. 14, according to the head of the business group.
"Our leadership has not yet met to discuss the proposal. It will likely be a few weeks before they do so," chamber president and CEO Jay Chesshir wrote in an email Monday.
According to Chesshir, the chamber's executive committee and board will make the final decision.
One week ago, the Little Rock Board of Directors voted to authorize the September sales-tax referendum at the behest of Mayor Frank Scott Jr.
Scott has proposed the 1 percentage-point sales-tax increase as the means to finance initiatives related to infrastructure, early-childhood education, public safety, parks and the Little Rock Zoo.
The tax, dubbed "Rebuild the Rock," is expected to generate $530 million over 10 years.
Under economic development subsections of the latest version of a resolution on spending before the board, $11 million over the next decade would go toward economic development operations.
The figure includes city partnerships to renovate or redevelop buildings, parcels or existing businesses "to provide incubator space, live/work space, laboratory, test kitchen, maker space, workshop or other place-based incentives designed to assist individuals wishing to start or expand businesses in the City."
An important target "will be existing companies that primarily sell tech or tech services," the resolution states.
Additionally, $30 million would go toward capital projects related to economic development under "Rebuild the Rock."
The resolution specifically mentions construction of "a job creation site to the southeast of the existing Port of Little Rock boundary, providing the opportunity to recruit large, heavy industrial jobs to the City and also providing the ability to attract projects that will create jobs."
The symbolic resolution on spending has yet to receive formal board approval. The measure failed during a close vote at last Tuesday's meeting when Ward 2 City Director Ken Richardson voted "present."
If voters approve the tax increase in September, because a separate three-eighths percent (0.375%) sales tax expires at the end of this year, the local tax rate will increase by five-eighths percent (0.625%). Consumers in Little Rock will pay an overall rate of 9.625% starting in 2022 when factoring in state and county taxes.
The initial version of Scott's proposal would have instituted a permanent sales-tax increase, but under the version approved last week, the tax will sunset at the end of 2031.
In April, the chairman of the regional chamber, John Burgess, wrote to Scott to raise a number of questions and concerns on behalf of chamber leadership related to the version of the tax proposal circulating at the time.
Chief among them was the lack of a sunset date for the capital-expenditure portion of the tax, according to Burgess' email.
"Sunsetting the capital spending portion of the tax is a big deal. It's the biggest single issue with the proposal raised by our leadership group and it's the single biggest issue that gets mentioned by those in our social networks," he wrote. "Your proposal represents a 40% increase to the city budget. The optics of asking for a 40% raise in perpetuity vs. asking for 20% for a period of time to invest in a defined set of improvements with a 20% increase to funding is huge, in our opinion."
Burgess went on to say that local governments elsewhere in Arkansas "very successfully manage by funding capital expenditures through fixed‐term (sunsetted) taxes."
He asked, "Why can't that portion of your proposal be converted to a 10‐year sunset tax, as your proposal states that all the identified initiatives will be addressed within the first 10 years, anyway?"
The addition of the sunset date was part of adjustments to the package made shortly before the June 15 vote of the Board of Directors to call the election.
When asked if he thought the addition of the sunset date has improved the chances that the tax package will get the chamber's endorsement, Chesshir declined to say.
"I'll be happy to comment once they've made their decision," Chesshir wrote Monday.