Jonesboro Finance Committee Approves Sales Tax Election Request

The idea of economic development and better roads go hand-in-hand, Jonesboro Mayor Harold Perrin told a city council committee Tuesday night.

When the dust settled, the committee agreed to put a proposed one-cent sales tax election closer to being in the hands of voters.

The Jonesboro City Council Finance Committee voted by voice vote to send the proposal to the full council for their Aug. 18 meeting.

If approved by the council, the election would be held Nov. 10.

On Thursday (Aug. 6), Perrin said he was requesting the election for two reasons – infrastructure and economic development.

Under the proposal, seven-eighths of the tax would go toward streets, roads and bridges while the remaining one-eighth would go toward economic development.

The tax, if approved by voters, would expire on March 31, 2026, Perrin told the committee.

The street tax would raise about $14.1 million a year while the economic development tax would bring in about $1.9 million a year.

Perrin told the committee that under the proposal, which would start being collected in June 2016, Jonesboro would have a combined state, county and local sales tax of 9.5%.

The state’s current sales tax is 6.5%, while Craighead County and Jonesboro’s sales tax are both 1%.

However, the combined county and city sales tax under the proposal, 3%, would still be lower than every major city in Arkansas except Little Rock (2.5%), Perrin said.

STREETS
Perrin said Tuesday that the street part of the tax could bring in roughly $164 million over the next 10 years, keyed by consumer spending.

Over the past year or so, the city has found about $246 million worth of needed projects to be completed.

The $246 million was whittled down to $186 million through the work of Memphis-based architectural firm, Fisher and Arnold, Perrin said.

Several of the projects were discussed at Tuesday’s meeting.

They include a railroad overpass at the intersection of Highland Drive and Nettleton Avenue, which will cost between $12 and $15 million; a flyover at U.S. 49 and Arkansas 351, which would cost between $30 and $40 million; adding a right turn lane and dual left turn lanes at Arkansas 18 and Caraway Road, which would be cost $3.45 million; a railroad overpass at Gee Street and Dan Avenue, which would cost a combined $20.7 million and the Commerce Drive eastern arterial project.

The project, which would cost around $34 million to complete, would have a proposed five lanes from U.S. 49 to U.S. 63, including a railroad crossing, Perrin said.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Perrin also spoke about the economic development portion of the tax.

Under the plan, the Jonesboro Economic Development Corporation would be created to deal with economic development issues in the city.

Perrin said the group, with a seven-member board that would serve five-year staggered terms, would be a public corporation with its records and meetings open to the public.

While not discussing specifics, Perrin said there is now currently 240 acres set aside for economic development projects in the city.

The corporation would work to build infrastructure, acquire land and help create jobs in Jonesboro, Perrin said, noting other areas in Northeast Arkansas like Cross County, Mississippi County and West Memphis have similar projects in place.

The committee also heard from Harold Carter, who opposed the plan.

Carter said he believes the sales tax would have an adverse impact on the poor.