El Dorado Works tax performs better than projected

EL DORADO — The books have been closed on the first quarter of the year for the city’s economic development tax, and city officials are calling on citizens to share ideas on how to expend tax dollars.

Robert Reynolds, chairman of the El Dorado Works Board, which administers the one-cent sales tax, reported Thursday that the tax is performing better than projected for the first part of 2017.

Reynolds provided the update during an El Dorado City Council meeting.

He told aldermen that the El Dorado Works budget for 2017 is $4.8 million, and for the first quarter of the year, tax collections came to $1.4 million, compared to $1.32 million for the same period in 2016.

The El Dorado Forward tax was approved by voters in June 2015, and collections went into effect on Oct. 1 of that year.

The tax is projected to bring in at least $50 million before it sunsets in 2025.

Collections are broken down into categories, including public works (32 percent); construction and maintenance/development (20 percent); community development (15 percent); economic development (15 percent); Festival City development (12 percent); and non-designated (6 percent).

Reynolds said $590,000 has been expended from the public works category to build a new street between the El Dorado High School campus and West Hillsboro/U.S. 82B ($500,000) and to add water and wastewater infrastructure to the Champagnolle Business Park ($90,000).

For community development, which includes parks and playgrounds, $83,230 has been spent to provide a match for a grant to install electricity and lights for the two newest fields at the El Dorado-Union County Recreation Complex.

Reynolds said that $63,350 has come from the construction and maintenance/development category for a transportation improvement corridor study for U.S. 82-B/Hillsboro.

In February, the city council passed a resolution expressing the city’s willingness to adopt the highway once a state improvement project has been completed.

Aldermen agreed to work with the Arkansas

Highway and Transportation Department to find a design concept for the project that will be mutually beneficial for the city and state.

The AHTD has been working on plans to widen the highway and make other improvements that would cover the length of the highway through El Dorado.

Mayor Frank Hash said the street extension project at the high school should be ready for construction soon, noting that costs are expected to fall within budget.

Hash also said the water and wastewater project in the Champagnolle Business Park has been completed, and two industry prospects are expected to move into the park soon.

Reynolds also told aldermen that the city is “only dealing with a residual amount” for the balance of the former El Dorado Forward tax, which expired on June 30, 2015 after eight years.

He reported that $951 in interest was collected on the former tax; $1,061 was used to complete phase two of of the downtown sidewalk improvement project; and $280,587 was spent to lay a natural gas transmission line for Conifex, who is moving a timber sawmill into the former GP plant on U.S. 167.

Hash said most of the pipe is in the ground, and the project is proceeding after a new permit was obtained from the state to bore into the highway.

Reynolds reminded aldermen that $9.02 million was dedicated to El Dorado Festivals and Events, Inc., from the El Dorado Works tax.

A portion of the money, $2.75 million, was used for the second phase of downtown sidewalk improvements.

Last year, the El Dorado Works Board and city council approved a funding request of $3.2 million of the El Dorado Works tax.

With 12 percent — or a projected $5 million — dedicated to the implementation of a new arts and entertainment district in Downtown El Dorado, Festivals and Events said the $3.2 million will be added to the $6.27 that was remaining from the El Dorado Forward tax.

The total $9.47 million will directed toward the first phase of the development project, which is under way in the area of Cedar, Jefferson, Locust and Hill.

Festivals and Events is spearheading the estimated $100 million arts and entertainment project, in which several downtown properties are being transformed into a variety of entertainment venues, a restaurant, playscape and an open-air market.

Hash asked Reynolds if the city should periodically call on local citizens and task forces to bring forth ideas for the El Dorado Forward tax.

“I think it should work both ways. I think some of it should be initiated …,” Reynolds said. “It’s a two-way street, and we need the thinking to go both ways.”

Alderman Billy Blann inquired about the status of work to clean drainage ditches around the city.

The city is using $300,000 to do the work. The money was the city of El Dorado’s portion of a balance of $899,825 from the Union County Solid Waste Authority.

Last summer, cities and towns around the council agreed to divide the money, and the city of El Dorado received $350,000.

Hash agreed then to leave $50,000 in the waste authority’s coffers for solid waste issues that could arise in the future.

The city’s cut is being used to clear clogged and overgrown drainage ditches.

In response to Blann’s question on Thursday, Hash said, “It’s actually going quite well. We’re getting a lot of bang for our buck.”

There has been “significant improvement” in wards two, three and four, Hash said.