City officials weigh options for sales tax

Department heads discuss needs if extension passes

FORT SMITH — City department heads are discussing how an extension of a 1% sales taxes could address park, fire, police and utility needs, as well as what must be done if the extension isn’t approved in the May 24 election.

Fort Smith has a 9.5% sales tax rate, with 6.5% going to the state, 1% to Sebastian County, 1% for city streets and drainage, 0.25% split between the city’s Fire and Parks departments and 0.75% split for city bonds and utilities.

Voters originally approved the 0.25% and 0.75% sales taxes in March 2012. If approved at the election, the 0.25% sales tax would be renewed for the Parks and Fire departments, and the 0.75% would fund the Police Department and repairs to the city’s sewer system. Both taxes would extend for eight years.

The Fire and Parks departments would evenly split the 0.25% sales tax. Both department heads spoke at the city directors meeting Tuesday about how not extending the sales tax would sideline several ongoing projects currently funded with the sales tax.

FIRE DEPARTMENT NEEDS

Fire Chief Phil Christensen noted his department needs funding to replace fire apparatuses and building Fire Station No. 11 and potentially Fire Station No. 12, actions that will maintain the city’s Insurance Services Office class one certification it’s had since 2016.

“That is a grading scale, so to speak, of your fire service, your dispatch center and your Utility Department. We have top notch of all three, and it shows in our ISO classification,” Christensen said. “What that is for residents, is your home owners insurance. The lower the ISO classification, the better premium you should get on your home owners insurance. It is especially important for large industry, large businesses. The lower the ISO classification, the better your insurance premiums are.”

Christensen said most of the Fire Department’s buildings are over 50 years old and don’t have room for the regular maintenance of fire trucks due to their size. He said the department would benefit from a maintenance facility and the city has already agreed to help pay for that, but they’re encountering purchasing issues due to pandemic- related cost increases.

“We’re just kind of pushing everything down the road a little bit further, trying to get the best bang for our buck when that time does arrive,” he said. “While we’re doing that, we’re also actively seeking standing

structures. We looked at a few of them over the last several months, and either they just don’t work for us or they cost too much, or we’re a day late submitting a bid.”

He said the Fire Department also has a top- notch training department and that would benefit from having a training facility classroom so they don’t have to travel from the training tower to one of the fire stations, or be forced to break into smaller groups at stations with no classrooms.

“We can’t go directly from an academic atmosphere to hands-on training in the same area,” he said. “It is logistically impossible right now. So a training facility classroom is vitally important for good, continued training. Not just with the Fire Department. We are partnering with the Police Department on this project. This will be a major expense to the city, to the citizens. It is very well needed. It will not only benefit Fort Smith fire, Fort Smith police, but it will also benefit surrounding agencies.”

PARKS AND POLICE PROJECTS

Doug Reinert, Parks and Recreation director, said his department has accomplished a lot with the sales tax in the last 10 years, and a full list can be found at www.fortsmithar.gov.

Reinert said some notable projects include construction and expansion of the Parrot Island Water Park, completion of the Greg Smith River Trail, the Riverfront Skate Park and Martin Luther King Playground improvements. He noted several projects also were completed with donations.

Some plans for the next eight years include pickleball courts at John Bell Jr. Park, renovating the Creekmore pools and bath house, increasing park maintenance, adding inclusive playgrounds and renovating park bathrooms, he said.

Most of the park restrooms are decades old and are “beyond what we feel is acceptable,” Reinert said. Some need to be torn down and replaced. Three restrooms were destroyed in the flooding of 2019, he said.

The Police Department would receive roughly 17% and the sewer system about 83% of revenue generated by the 0.75% sales tax.

Police Chief Danny Baker noted his department doesn’t have a history with the sales tax to present city directors, but if it passes he plans to use it in four areas: personnel, technology and training, mobility and facilities.

Baker said significant salary increases are necessary to attract and retain quality officers. He proposed a 23.8% salary increase for the entire department, excluding himself, which would bring the entry-level officer salary to roughly $50,000 a year. Baker noted that salary would bring the department closer to the state police salary scale, which recently increased as well.

“In January of this year I took a hard look at our staffing situation. At that time, there had been 47 separations from the Fort Smith Police Department since January 2020. Of those 47, 24 resigned for a non- law enforcement job, 14 retired, only three resigned for another law enforcement job, five were fired or resigned under investigation, and one passed away due to covid-19,” Baker said. “The overwhelming majority of those officers who retired took another job at a much smaller agency making as much or more than they were at the Fort Smith Police Department, while also drawing a retirement. That is our reality.”

Baker noted programs like the body worn cameras is a significant and recurring expense for the department. He said the department will look to renew a contract to store the department’s camera footage in 2026, which is expected to cost about $1.6 million.

The department is also looking into a shotspotter alert system that can pinpoint where a gunshot has gone off and alert officers and dispatchers, which is also costly, he said.

“So this is just some of the things that we’re hoping to use technology for to help us in our quest to keep Fort Smith safe. Surveillance equipment is very much involved in our long range and short range plans. The equipment that we have fielded in the last couple of years with the seven year plan money, and particularly the two surveillance trailers, have been very effective at deterring crime wherever we’ve deployed them. Of course officer training and safety is always a must,” he said.

Baker said the department’s facility at 100 S. 10th St. was renovated nearly 25 years ago, and systems such as the cooling tower and boiler need repair and upgrading. He said as Fort Smith’s east side continues to develop, the department is looking at leasing or building a precinct there.

CONSENT DECREE

Utilities Director Lance McAvoy said his portion of the sales tax would replace aging pipes, fix manholes and accomplish other projects related to the city’s consent decree work.

The city entered into a consent decree in January 2015 with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality. Under the decree, Fort Smith agreed to repair and upgrade its sewer system after decades of sewage runoff into local waterways, including the Arkansas River.

The city agreed to spend more than $200 million over the next 12 years to upgrade its sewer collection and treatment.

The original decree deadline was Jan. 2, 2027, but the city said it couldn’t afford to do all of the work by that date. The city was granted a fiveyear extension to 2032. City officials have said they intend to ask for another extension because of the impact of the 2019 flood, covid-19 and related supply chain issues.

McAvoy said the Utility Department has allocated all the money it has available toward consent decree work, with the exception of proposed American Rescue Plan Act money. He said if the sales tax extension isn’t approved, the city will have to increase sewer rates by 58% to 60% almost immediately to stay compliant with the consent decree.

City Administrator Carl Geffken noted the city will hold another sales tax informational meeting at the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education at 6 p.m. May 9 to present information from the directors and department heads, and to answer questions from attendees.