Van Buren Mayor ‘happy’ with infrastructure, amenity work in 2023

With 2023 drawing to a close and despite a loss of sales tax revenue thanks to a Crawford County filing error, Van Buren Mayor Joe Hurst says city goals for the year have mostly been accomplished.

“I’m happy with the way the year has turned out. We’ve accomplished most of our goals, especially with city streets and repaving and the number of paving projects we’ve completed in the community,” Hurst said.

The city is in the final stages of a large overlay and drainage project at Legacy Boulevard and Durango Drive. The nearly $1.2 million project is expected to be completed around the first of the year, Hurst said. The city also should be completing a skate park at the site of the former city swimming pool at Dr. Louis Peer Memorial Park (City Park). The Van Buren City Council approved a $1.2 million contract with Joplin, Mo.-based American Ramp Co. in January to build the skate park.

The city completed a parks and recreation plan in 2015 after multiple community input meetings and discussions at several of the city’s schools as well as an online survey. The skate park will be almost 20,000 square feet and will include street and transition skating elements. The concept American Ramp Co. created from community engagement incorporates an approximately even amount of street and transition skating elements.

Hurst said there is one more $300,000 payment left to be made on the park, noting that the skate park was funded with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

“It’s going to be really nice. Along with the new pickleball courts, we have disk golf, a playground and a lake where people can fish. There’s a lot going on there,” Hurst said.

The city has also completed many sidewalk projects this year. One essential sidewalk project near Oliver Springs Elementary School is waiting on approximately $900,000 in FEMA funds, Hurst said. The FEMA grant is a 90/10 split, which means the city hasn’t had to come up with much for the project.

Though the city had hoped to continue the work being done through drainage and street overlay projects in 2024, the number of those will be reduced because of the loss of almost $1 million sales tax revenue this month and in January and February, Hurst said.

“We’ve going to scale back to what we can do in house with our street department,” he said, noting that the city council will review the 2024 budget at the end of the month.

According to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DFA), there will be a three-month period – October through December – when the 1% county-wide sales tax typically collected in Crawford County will not be collected.

On May 12, 2015, Crawford County voters approved extension of a 1% sales and use tax and scheduled the tax to expire on Sept. 30, 2023, according to the DFA. On May 24, 2022, the tax was approved by the voters to be extended until May 30, 2031. However, there was an error in reporting that continuance to the state, and in July retailers were notified of a change in the amount of sales tax that should be charged for sales in the county.

Crawford County Judge Chris Keith learned after talking with the DFA that the county had not filed necessary paperwork regarding the sales tax election in 2022. Though the paperwork was filed in July, the state will not resume collection of the tax until Jan. 1.

Hurst said the sales tax generated about $336,000 in revenue in December 2022, $350,000 in January, and $380,000 in February. Sales tax revenue throughout the year has surpassed 2022, which means the amount the city is losing from not having the sales tax collected is probably even more than those amounts, Hurst said.

“But still, we’re ending the year doing well, and I’m excited to start the new year,” he said.