Tax on ballot delivers dollars for county roads

County judges are sometimes referred to as the “kings of roads” because we oversee the road systems in our counties.

Well, those “kingdoms” are spread pretty thin. As an example, Benton County has nearly 1,500 miles of roads (not counting the hundreds of miles in cities), which is kind of like driving from here to Key West, Fla. We also have over 100 bridges that carry thousands of cars and trucks every day.

We are able to maintain these road systems with the funds we receive from our regular revenue streams — property taxes, turnback money from the state and some subsidies from county general funds.

However, our ability to improve these road networks to keep up with the region’s growth has been dependent on the halfcent sales tax passed by Arkansas voters in 2012. The continuation of this tax will be on the ballot in November as Issue 1.

Growth in Northwest Arkansas has only accelerated since the current halfcent sales tax was passed by voters in 2012. The total population of Benton and Washington Counties combined is estimated to be roughly 518,000 residents. By 2045, the number is expected to grow to almost 975,000 residents.

One of the key components of the current halfcent sales tax and Issue 1 is that 30% of those dollars are returned directly to cities and counties.

In Benton and Washington Counties, this equates to nearly $12 million annually, almost $4 million of which is allocated to Washington and Benton county road departments. About $8 million of that annual total is disbursed to cities.

In Benton County, we have used those funds to greatly reduce the number of structurally deficient bridges from 13 bridges to five bridges. “Structurally deficient” does not mean a bridge is unsafe, but it is a definition used by the Arkansas Department of Transportation, which annually inspects nearly all county bridges, to identify a bridge that needs substantial rehabilitation or ultimately will have to be closed to traffic.

In the past four years, we have used the halfcent sales tax funding to improve iconic bridges like War Eagle Bridge, bridges that accommodate a lot of traffic like Spanker Creek Bridge and bridges that are vital to first responders like Cow Face Bridge.

Thanks in part to the funds provided by the halfcent sales tax, we will be able to improve all of our structurally deficient bridges in the future so that they meet state standards for safety and weight loads and perform better during flooding events.

In Washington County, the halfcent sales tax has funded tremendous improvements to county roads like Parsons Road, Trace Branch and Wallin Mountain through widening and overlay projects. It also provided necessary funds for repairing Brush Creek Bridge.

We use these funds to improve hundreds of miles of paved roads that handle more traffic than they were originally designed to accommodate. We have more vehicles driving more miles on our county roads than ever before, and we know that trend will continue.

We live in a very conservative region and realize there are wide and varied points of view on Issue 1. We absolutely respect all viewpoints. As county judges — “kings of roads” if you will — we have an obligation to let residents know the failure of Issue 1 will have adverse consequences for county roads and bridges in our region. There will also be detrimental impacts on the road budgets of our cities.

We will come back to the theme we started with — improvement. The funds provided by the halfcent sales tax have given us the ability to improve our road and bridge systems. The passage of Issue 1 will allow us to continue improvements to meet the challenges of a growing and thriving region.