Fort Smith board set for quality-of-place special session

Tonight’s (Jan. 26) special session by the Fort Smith Board of Directors to study an extensive list of possible taxpayer funded tourism and recreational projects will also include funding consideration for a new fire station at Chaffee Crossing and funding “for the arts.”

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m., Jan. 26, at the Elm Grove Community Center in the Martin Luther King Jr. Park (1815 N. Greenwood Ave.).

For at least the past year, the city board has discussed several plans to bolster funding for the Fort Smith Convention Center, support development of an 85-acre riverfront property owned by the Robbie Westphal family, partner with Sebastian County on investing in recreational facilities at Ben Geren Regional Park and support various citywide arts and entertainment projects. Some estimates have a tally on all projects exceeding $40 million.

The agenda for Tuesday night’s meeting includes:
• Review of options for financing proposed initiatives;
• Connecting priorities to funding options;
• Discussing the timing of priorities — to possibly include an election timeframe —with funding options; and,
• Discussing citizen engagement in the process.

“This discussion is an opportunity to advance Fort Smith’s and the region’s quality of place in many respects: recreation, tourism, and entertainment,” noted a Jan. 22 memo from Fort Smith Deputy City Administrator Ray Gosack. “Once the board is comfortable with a package of quality of place projects and funding sources, the staff will begin efforts to involve stakeholders and more interested citizens. If this involvement results in the need to reconsider the package, we’ll undertake additional board discussion.”

Gosack’s memo reminds that an Oct. 27 special board meeting identified the top five board priorities as:
• Funding convention center operations (an up to $1.5 million funding shortfall could hit as early as 2011);
• Riverfront sports venue;
• Aquatics park at Ben Geren;
• Two softball fields at Ben Geren; and,
• Fort Smith Railroad yard relocation.

The memo also identifies the following funding options:
• Prepared food tax (aka, hamburger tax) that could potentially raise $27.546 million in five years at a 3% rate, or $1.8 million per year at a 1% rate;
• Reallocation of street sales tax (10% allocation would raise about $1.93 million annually and would require voter approval); and,
• Business license fee (about $1.9 million annually).

LInk here for the PDF document of materials related to the special meeting.