5 BOND issues fail.

Use of taxes from future casino revenue struck down

Pope County voters rejected five bond issues on Tuesday that would have funded construction of a new jail and other capital improvements with tax revenue from a future casino.

Unofficial returns on the vote to issue as much as $58.8 million in bonds to build a new criminal justice center were:

For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,239 Against . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,853

The proposed criminal justice center would have included a 400-bed jail, a sheriff’s office operations facility, a 911 communications facility, an Office of Emergency Management facility, a coroner’s office, two courtrooms and other amenities.

Pope County’s current jail has 172 beds but often houses more inmates than that.

State Sen. Breanne Davis, R-Russellville, said that if all five issues had passed, it would have tied up about 80% of the projected revenue Pope County and Russellville expect to get from casino tax receipts for 30 or 40 years.

All of those bond issues — totalling about $80 million — hinged on the county getting a casino, which would have provided tax revenue for the bond issues.

On Nov. 6, 2018, Arkansas voters approved the Arkansas Casino Gaming Amendment, which authorized ca

sino gaming in four counties, including Pope County.

Constitutional Amendment 100 allows a new casino in both Pope and Jefferson counties, and it allows the expansion of gambling at racetracks in Hot Springs and West Memphis.

Pope County’s proposed casino is currently mired in court challenges. Davis said it could take two years in court, then a year and a half to construct the casino. Bonds wouldn’t be issued until the casino had been in operation for a year.

“It’s not a decision we need to make right now,” said Davis. “I’m happy to see the election results.”

Davis said it’s more fiscally responsible to wait before issuing bonds. That will give Pope County residents a better opportunity to “understand what’s going to happen over the next few years in our community and help us make better decisions a few years down the road,” she said.

Pope County Judge Ben Cross said on Monday that if voters rejected the bond issue to build a new criminal justice center, it will likely reappear on the November general election ballot.

“If the ballot issue fails, the problem’s still here,” said Cross.

Cross said Pope County’s current jail often has more

than 200 people incarcerated. He said the jail was built in 1981 to hold a maximum of 52 people. It was expanded to its current capacity in 2000.

Since 2009, the average daily head count at the jail has been above 172, said Cross.

Besides the criminal justice center, Pope County voters considered four other bond issues on Tuesday.

The second bond issue on the ballot would have provided up to $8.4 million to fund land and construction of a new library in Russellville. Cross said the current Pope County Library was constructed in the 1970s.

With all 55 precincts reporting, unofficial returns for the vote on library improvement bonds were:

For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,851 Against . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,241

The ballot also included a bond issue that would have provided up to $7.35 million to buy land and build a multi-purpose event center. Cross described it as “a large event center that could hold everything from rodeos to concerts.”

With all 55 precincts reporting, unofficial returns on the bond issue for an event center were:

For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,631 Against . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,441

Tuesday’s ballot included a proposed $3.57 million maximum bond issue to fund public safety improvements, including land acquisition and construction of a Russellville

Fire Department sub-station. The bond issue would also pay for firefighting equipment and police vehicles.

With all 55 precincts reporting, unofficial returns on the vote for a public safety improvements bond issue were:

For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,513 Against . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,556

Another bond issue on the ballot would have provided a maximum of $2.1 million to fund “wellness facilities and improvements.” Those would have included land acquisition and construction of a senior adult wellness center annex, located next to the existing Pope County Senior Center, which was built around 2000.

With all 55 precincts reporting, unofficial returns on the vote for a wellness improvement bond issue were: For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,487 Against . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,601

Cross said the county stands to get about $4.5 million annually from the casino gaming tax, if the casino is located outside an incorporated town or city. That’s based on the casino bringing in about $125 million a year.

If the casino is built in Russellville, the city would get about $3.2 million a year in tax revenue from it, and the county would get about $1.3 million. Also, if the casino is built near Russellville, the city could annex that property later and benefit from the casino tax, said Cross.