Fayetteville Voters Overwhelming in Support of Bond Issues

Fayetteville voters overwhelmingly approved a $6.9 million bond issue Tuesday to help pay for a $20 million expansion of the Walton Arts Center.

An unofficial final vote count, according to local CBS affiliate KFSM-TV Channel 5, showed 3,638 votes for (85 percent) to 666 against (15 percent).

Early and absentee results were also strongly supportive, according to the report, with 688 people voting for the measure, while 105 voted against.

The money will come from the redirection of the city’s hotel, motel and restaurant (HMR) tax.

The center’s 30,000-SF expansion is expected to be completed by 2016. The facility has not been updated since it was built in 1992.

A question of whether to partially fund a planned regional sports park near Cato Springs Road in Fayetteville also passed Tuesday. The question called for $3.5 million in bonds to be put toward the $27 million project.

Final unofficial numbers on that measure showed it passing 3,680 votes (85 percent) to 628 (15 percent). With early and absentee votes in, that measure was passing 685 to 110, according to the report.