Questions about voting, challenges of bond issue

In a recent letter to the editor, Sam Emerson makes some valid points about the Fayetteville bond election scheduled for April 9. He and I might disagree as to whether it is a continuation of a tax or a new tax, but in my opinion, that is not something we should quibble about.

Like Mr. Emerson, I believe very few will turn out to vote. However, if the city administration is interested in encouraging its citizens to vote, I believe it is evident that fewer voting places will make it less convenient to vote. Given the dollar magnitude of the bond issues on the ballot, the increase in the cost of having more voting places seems paltry in size. Thus, unless the city wants to further reduce the number of citizens who will vote, it should not reduce the voting places.

In seeking to justify more than $213 million in bonds, the ordinance says that amount is needed to pay for Fayetteville’s critical needs. (The other $12,200,000 is to pay off the existing bonds.) Some supporting the bond issue have sought to justify it in the following manner. They point out the bond issues in Rogers and Springdale and say Fayetteville needs to follow their lead. That argument is reminiscent of a child seeking permission to do something by saying: “Mom and Dad, others are doing it. Why can’t I.”

As for the “critical” need for $213 million, if that is the necessary dollars, it is destined to be insufficient in size. There will of necessity be legal fees and underwriting expenses. While the funds required to cover these expenses are not mentioned in either the ordinance or any of its 10 questions, it will be there and should it be 3 percent, it will reduce the funds for “critical” needs by $6,781,950.

Making informed decisions with respect to voting for or against each of the questions will be tedious at best. The verbiage in what appears to be one of the shorter questions is approximately 150 words. Even if one can read at a high speed, to digest that number of words and decide whether to vote “yes” or “no” on $3,170,000 for that particular bond issue will take a while. In order to facilitate voters to make informed decisions it would seem to be imperative to do all that is reasonably possible to make copies of the ballots available to the citizens well in advance of April 9.

Like others, I find what has been done to Rolling Hills Drive is totally unacceptable. However, it is what it is. Apparently, you and I will have to learn to live with it. But you might want to keep in mind that the people who are responsible for reducing the number of voting places, and thereby making it more difficult for you to vote, are the same ones that will be making the ultimate decisions about $213 million of the people’s money if the majority of the votes is “yes.” PHIL TAYLOR Fayetteville