Batesville to vote on sales-tax rise

Funding recreational projects aim; similar plan rejected in 2010

Batesville officials have retooled a sales-tax-increase proposal that voters turned down two years ago in hopes of developing recreational facilities and creating economic opportunities for the Independence County town.

Voters will decide on a 1 percentage-point sales-tax increase during a special election Tuesday.

The proposal calls for using half of the increase to fund construction of a 75,000-square-foot community center, an indoor-outdoor swimming facility and several baseball and softball fields.

The city would collect the tax for 25 years or until the $25.9 million project is paid for, said Mayor Rick Elumbaugh.

The other half is to be a permanent tax for maintenance of the recreational facilities, and for equipment and salaries at the city’s Fire Department.

Currently, Batesville collects a 1.25 percent citywide sales tax.

“We need this,” Elumbaugh said. “We’ve got the health care, work force and schools needed to attract industry. What we lack is recreational opportunities. If we can become a vibrant community in all aspects, we can get the jobs here.”

Opponents of the proposal question the timing of the election.

“This is absolutely the wrong time to do this,” said Andy Konkler, a member of People For Parks, which opposes the Batesville tax-increase plan.

“This is not a money maker. If it was, you’d see private companies already coming in and developing a water park or other [recreational] services.

“We are for parks, but not for taxes for parks,” he said.

Residents defeated a proposal for a 1.25 percentagepoint sales-tax increase in August 2010 that called for spending $55 million on recreational projects similar to those in this year’s proposal, along with a 300-seat theater. Plans then called for building a softball complex in a flood plain near the White River.

The measure was defeated two years ago by 70 votes: 1,126 opposed it, and 1,056 favored it.

“We found out two things,” Elumbaugh said of the 2010 election. “One, it was too large and too much of a project. Two, was the location.

“We took care of both of those,” he said.

The Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce has endorsed the tax proposal, called the Community Development Initiative.

Chamber President Crystal Johnson said she could not support the measure two years ago because it was too broad in scope and the chamber didn’t have time to review it.

This time, she said, the Arkansas State University Delta Center for Economic Development studied the proposal and found that if the recreational complexes were built, it could have an economic impact of $2 million a year for Batesville.

“We’re glad to do it,” Johnson said of endorsing the measure. “We have to invest in our community.”

Konkler said his group has mailed fliers opposing the tax to Batesville residents.

“If this was such a good investment, we could have already had this if the city used its money right,” he said. “Gasoline prices are higher, groceries are higher ... This is not a necessity.”

Elumbaugh said the tax’s passage would create several construction jobs and at least 20 jobs at the complexes once they are built.

He said the city’s Fire Department also needs a new pumper truck and at least two more firefighters.

“I think industries are looking for all of these kinds of things when they look for a place to come,” Elumbaugh said.

“We need this. It’s an investment.”