Fort Smith directors comment on 1% acrimony

story by Michael Tilley
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Vulgar discourse and rising animosity among some citizens related to the 1% prepared food tax in Fort Smith concerns members of the Fort Smith Board of Directors — including a director who voted against enactment of the tax.

A 1% prepared food tax was enacted Feb. 24 by the Fort Smith Board of Directors to resolve the more than 10-year search to plug an annual deficit with convention center operations predicted to occur when $1.8 million in annual state turnback money dried up. The state turnback program — which supported expansion or construction of tourism facilities — ended for Fort Smith in June 2010.

On June 17, Sebastian County Circuit Judge Michael Fitzhugh will preside over a hearing brought by the Citizens for Responsible Taxation who seek to remove the 1% tax or force a public vote on the tax. The lawsuit was pushed when the city of Fort Smith found insufficient a petition effort to force an election on the tax.

During the course of the debate about the tax, claims of intimidation, corruption and abuse of process have been leveled against the board and city officials. Comments on The City Wire and letters to the editor in the Times Record frequently include complaints against the tax and the process by which it was enacted. One opponent of the tax sent vulgar e-mails to Fort Smith City Administrator Ray Gosack and City Clerk Sherri Gard.

City Director Steve Tyler, who voted to enact the tax, said he has no “second thoughts” about the decision.

“I had to weigh citizen approval versus board control when I voted for the ordinance. I think this is why the Arkansas Legislature continues to give city boards and councils this authority regarding A&P taxes … so they will not have to go back to the people every time they want to change the (percentage) or discontinue the tax,” Tyler noted in an e-mail interview. “I think it is a wise that boards and councils retain ultimate control of purse strings of the A&P even if they can’t directly control how they spend the funds collected.”

Tyler also said he is “comfortable with the fact the this process has gone into the court system.”

City Director Kevin Settle, who voted against the tax, was critical of the tone of discussion taken by some against the tax, especially with respect to the e-mails sent to Gard and Gosack.

“Obviously, the letter that was sent out was disrespectful. There is no need for that, in any type of disagreement,” Settle said. “You can be angry, but you can politely engage.”

Settle said he has not had phone calls during which people yell at him, but he does believe a “small group of people” are presenting “their side of the information” in a negative way. He said the small group may be a “few hundred people,” and added that some opposed to the tax “are presenting facts in a civil manner.”

City Director Pam Weber said voters should realize that the seven-member board seeks to do what is good for Fort Smith.

“We do live in a time where we are all very tense about the future … but we have to remember that we all have the good of the community in our hearts, even if we disagree on how to get there,” Weber said. “We are trying to do what we think is right for the city of Fort Smith. The citizens need to remember that, even when we disagree. It’s healthy to have disagreements, but we need to do it in a civil manner.”

Weber said she has received phone calls in which citizens yell at her about a vote.

“But I have also received very positive phone calls from citizens, who are telling me to keep my chin up,” Weber said, adding that she gets more positive reinforcement than negative calls.

Settle agreed with Weber on the board’s approach.

“The directors are trying to do what is best. There are seven different directors, and we’re all doing what we can to look out for what is best for Fort Smith,” he said.

City Director Andre Good took it a step further, saying he is one of the “common” people that some groups say the board overlooks.

“I am one of those ‘average hard-working tax-paying citizens that are too busy trying to provide for our families’ that members of The Citizens for Responsible Taxation say we need to stand up for,” Good said. “I find it very disheartening to see the growing amount of tension that’s being displayed. Finger pointing, distrust of government and elected officials, name calling, threats and so forth. Reasonable people may differ on this, but should make their reasoned arguments, not engage in personal attacks.”

Good said he heard from many citizens and citizens’ groups — Northside Town Branch — who supported the tax. He said the citizen input and years of research, including findings from an ad hoc committee comprised of private sector business leaders, pointed to the 1% tax.

“This tax issue is not, nor has it been about the City Board taking advantage of our citizens, being sly or under-handed, pet projects, pocket padding or not wanting to give citizens the right to vote. After years of not finding a funding source, it was time to act, and enacting the tax was my stance after hearing from so many citizens,” Good explained. “We were elected to lead — to make tough decisions. After weighing all of the evidence, the decision I made is one on which I will stand. The directors that voted ‘no’ were not voting no on the Convention Center.”

City Director Philip Merry Jr. said the name-calling and vulgar e-mails are “very un-Fort Smith like.” He echoed Good’s comments about the 1% tax.

“I hear often that people don’t want a tax but I don’t hear viable, realistic alternatives on how to solve the situation,” Merry noted in an e-mail interview. “I truly believe that to preserve and grow the quality of life and quality of place in our city that a vibrant downtown located convention center is paramount. Funding the convention center in the prepared food tax manner allows for as much as half of the proceeds to come from out-of-town visitors versus all from our own citizen base.”

City Directors George Catsavis and Don Hutchings did not respond to questions for this story.