Let’s vote ‘yes’ on consent decree work

Fort Smith voters are being asked during the May 13 election cycle to make a big, tough decision. It’s a tough decision resulting from decades of tough decisions avoided. The best outcome for the city will be if a majority of voters say “yes” to a sales tax plan.

City officials and residents for at least five decades were unwilling to address and fund serious sewer system deficiencies. The dilapidated system has leaked tons of excrement into our creeks, the Arkansas River, streets, and yards. The federal government, after decades of being ignored when simply asking the city to remediate a basic function of government, pulled the “consent decree” trigger in 2014 to force the city to do the right thing.

Some argue that the federal government in 2014 asked the city to do more than possible within the time allowed. Maybe so. Or maybe if we’d have taken serious federal admonitions several decades ago we wouldn’t now be in a financial corner. Either way, the adjudication of that debate does not in any way address the time pressure and financial dilemma the city now faces.

So, after almost 10 years of struggling to develop the political will to adequately and aggressively address the cost of federally-mandated sewer system improvements, the Fort Smith Board of Directors on Feb. 21 voted to submit a sales tax reallocation plan to voters that will fund more than $640 million – to include future refinancing of existing bonds – in sewer system work.

Following are the three parts of the proposed tax plan. Voters are asked to vote for or against each of the three items.
• Reallocation of a 0.75% sales tax first approved by voters in 2022 to pay for consent decree work and to pay bonds, with 0.125% used for the Fort Smith Police Department
• Renewing the 1% street tax but reallocating 0.625% for streets, bridges and drainage work, with the remainder of the tax to fund consent decree work and bonds
• Approval of the authorization to use the tax revenue to issue bonds to pay for the work.

Following are a few key facts to consider.
Fact: All three measures must be approved by voters for the overall plan to be implemented.
Fact: The plan DOES NOT raise the overall sales tax rate in the city.
Fact: The measures, if approved by voters, also will be supported by a 3.5% annual increase in sewer rates to fund the mandated sewer system work.
Fact: The sales tax reallocation revenue for the sewer work would be on the books for at least 30 years, but no more than 30.
Fact: The sales tax revenue for the police department and the street tax are set to face voter renewal in 2030, according to a resolution the Fort Smith Board approved May 6.
Fact: There is no easy fix to the problem through some special loans or programs. Such programs could help on the margins, but are not near enough to convince federal officials that the work will happen.
Fact: There is little chance of state or federal cavalry riding in with an executive order to make the problem less costly or provide more time.
Fact: The sales tax reallocation plan is a bitter pill to swallow, but no one has yet to produce a more palatable plan that fully addresses the federal demands.
Fact: Sales tax revenue brings in outside dollars (non-resident spending in the city) to help pay for mandated sewer system work.
Fact: One alternative if voters reject the plan is that sewer rates will increase substantially.
Fact: Another alternative if voters reject the plan is that federal officials assume control of the system and mandate whatever funding mechanism they deem necessary. That pill will make the May 13 bitter pill taste like your favorite dessert.

In a normal situation, few folks, if any, would support a sales tax plan that binds a portion of sales tax revenue to a 30-year term. But we’ve moved beyond normal. There comes a time when you’ve kicked the can so far down the road that one runs out of road.

Allegations of corruption and mis-spending are distractions by those without real solutions. They mimic the noises of those who decades ago preferred to kick cans.

The proposed plan gives us more road, gets the feds off our back, fixes a system we’ve neglected for decades, and allows city leadership to focus on other challenges and opportunities.

Your “yes” vote will do much to erase decades of not doing the right thing.