Team Jonesboro to reveal projects it will support on Tuesday

Team Jonesboro, a grassroots organization promoting a proposed sales tax hike in Jonesboro, will reveal its project recommendation list they plan to present to the Oversight Integrity Council on Tuesday (July 23). The council will decide what projects will be funded if the tax is passed.

The informational meeting event is slated to begin at 5 p.m. at the Forum Theater. Among the details the group plans to discuss at the rollout are recent comparative costs of similar projects, estimated costs of unique proposals, budgeting methodology of the initiative and the reasoning behind why certain projects are being pursued by the campaign, according to Team Jonesboro.

Part of the sales tax would be used to fund investments in public safety and construct public amenities such as parks, aquatics centers, a shooting sports complex, arts and entertainment venues, museums, sidewalks, trail systems and a wide variety of other quality of life based projects. The goal is to improve the safety and lives of people that live in the city, and it will provide tools to recruit new young professionals to the city.

The key to moving these projects forward is the passage of the 1-cent sales tax. Voters will go to the polls Sept. 10 to decide the issue. Half of the tax will be dedicated to quality of life improvements and half to public safety.

Representatives of both the Jonesboro Police and Fire Departments will be on hand to explain how they plan to invest more than $100 million dollars directly into public safety. The group wants voters to pass a proposed 1-cent sales tax that would be imposed for 12 years and would raise about $18 million per year, according to estimates.

Jonesboro currently has a sales tax rate of 8.5%.