Go Forward tax fails for 2nd time
The people have spoken — again.
On Tuesday, for the second time in six months, Pine Bluff voters gave a thumbs down to two Go Forward Pine Bluff-sponsored sales taxes — the renewal of a fiveeighths-cent sales tax that funds Go Forward’s projects as well as a three-eighths-cent sales tax that would have provided funding for public safety initiatives.
The final but unofficial vote counts were as follows:
GO FORWARD TAX
For ......................................... 1,490
Against ................................... 1,959
PUBLIC SAFETY TAX
For ......................................... 1,560
Against ................................... 1,763
“I’m feeling very relieved that the citizens, back to back, did the right thing for our community,” said Ivan Whitfield, a former council member who is now the president of the local chapter of the NAACP.
The results from 19 polling sites showed that voters had defeated an effort to extend the five-eighth scent sales tax in what was a second special election. The tax was presented on the ballot as a general-use city tax. The current tax is set to expire in September 2024.
The three-eighths-cent tax, also known as the Public Safety Tax, according to the ballot would have paid annual bonuses to police and fire personnel and contributed to insurance premiums, training, uniforms, equipment, vehicles, building upgrades, crime prevention and salaries to name a few.
That tax would not have had a sunset date.
The week of early voting, which ran from Nov. 7 to Monday, totaled 1,661 compared to the special election held back in May when 1,597
early votes were cast.
Voters this time around were cut short by one day to vote due to Veteran’s Day holiday on Friday, but the number of voters nearly doubled on the first day of early voting compared to the election back in May with 433 early voters. A total of 486 voters showed up on Monday, the last day of early voting.
Early voting and absentee ballot totals for the fiveeighth-tenths tax were 749 for and 902 against. Early voting and absentee for the three-eighth sales tax was 788 for and 805 against. In May, early votes gave the pro-Go Forward contingent the lead. But on Tuesday, the numbers were flipped, giving anti-tax faction the early edge.
That trend continued throughout the night as the anti-tax votes led the results from each polling site. Visibly content with the results were Whitifiled and former council member and mayoral candidate Joni Alexander Robinson.
Whitfield said he felt that the words of former Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Executive Director Maurice Taggart, released by the Pine Bluff Commercial a couple of weeks ago, helped defeat the tax.
“I’m very appreciative of what was left on record by Maurice Taggart,” said Whitfield. “That pulled the cover off of a group of people that had misled this community.”
According to Whitfield, when Taggart was able to “speak from the grave,” Taggart uncovered how Go Forward operates.
“I really truly believe that will be a long-lasting legacy that he helped his community one more time,” he said. “We are so thankful that the truth came out and the people believed the truth and they voted for the truth and the truth was this was a terrible tax.”
Whitfield said he felt the tax should not have been placed back on the ballot after it was defeated in May.
“The community needs to ask the question why did they put us back in this position … those individuals who allowed this to hit the ballot,” he said. “They lied on the people. They lied and said the people wanted it back. If the people wanted it back on the polls they would have come back out and voted for the tax.”
Robinson said she felt justified and that the vote confirmed everything that she has made available to the public.
“The people needed to know what was going on,” she said. “They needed to make their own decision because their vote was completely disregarded the first time.”
Robinson said the disregard for the voices of the people showed how disconnected leadership is from the community and that she will continue to provide a platform for information.
As for Whitfield, he said the NAACP will finalize the “People’s Plan,” a 67-page document that was formulated after a series of listening sessions held in each of the city’s four wards. The plan, he said, will be put it in the hands of elected officials.
“My problem is we are putting it in the hands of the same people that put us in this position tonight to have to come back to the polls,” said Whitfield.
Not wanting to think about that at the moment, Whitfield basked in the moment of victory and said he was feeling full.
“I just hate that I can’t talk to the man that really helped us pull this off,” said Whitifield referring to Taggart. “I’m proud that the people came out and responded in the right way for the betterment of our community.”