Sales tax issues pass, boost police budget

Baxter County officials and city leaders in Mountain Home said they expected three sales tax issues that will pay for an addition to the county jail and boost city fire and police budgets would pass, but they didn’t expect the overwhelming margins of victories.

The county will use a 1 percent countywide tax for the addition of up to 55 beds to its 100-bed jail, and a one-fourth percent tax for upkeep and salaries at the jail. In Mountain Home, officials will use a three-eighths percent tax to replace aging equipment for the city’s police and fire departments.

Each of the three issues passed by more than a twothirds vote.

“We were certainly optimistic that it would win, but we’re ecstatic about the margin,” Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery said. “This community continues to show us that they are truly our partner and support our needs.”

The 1-percent tax, to be collected from March 1 through Oct. 31, 2018, will generate $4.6 million. The second county tax is estimated to raise $1.6 million a year and will be collected permanently starting Nov. 1, 2018.

The sheriff has advocated for jail expansion for several years after his county jail was consistently crowded. In December 2012, Montgomery used a cutting torch to remove 58 of the jail’s 102 steel beds to save $60,000 a year in food, medical treatment and other costs of housing inmates.

Construction of the jail addition should be completed in April or May 2019, the sheriff said.

More than 80 percent of those casting votes in Mountain Home supported the three-eighths percent sales tax that will garner $1.7 million annually.

“I thought it would be great if we got 60 percent,” Police Chief Carry Manuel said. “We’d take a win any way we could get it, but eighty percent? It shows the support we have in our community.”

The city will hire an animal control officer, replacing on-duty police officers who handle the duty now. It also will hire a code enforcement officer. Manuel said he also intends to buy new body cameras for his officers and he wants to replace aging vehicles.

The Fire Department will buy new vehicles and equipment, said Travis Dover, president of the Mountain Home Professional Firefighters Association. The association oversaw promotion of the tax, said Dover, who also works for the Mountain Home Fire Department.

“We were upfront,” he said. “We told people what we were needing. We wanted people to know what was going on. We were honest about it. We made ourselves open to the public.”

He said one of the priorities of the 25-member fire department is to replace vehicles that are at least 22 years old.

Complete, but unofficial results in the Sept. 12 election are:

1 percent countywide tax for jail construction: For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,846 Against . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,232

One-fourth percent countywide tax for jail upkeep and salaries: For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,728 Against . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,318

Three-eighths citywide tax for police and fire: For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,167 Against . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271