More than $58K spent to support bond issue

The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce-affiliated committee that advocated for the passage of the sales tax-supported road improvement bond issue spent $58,600 on the campaign, according to the final financial report the group filed earlier this week with the Arkansas Ethics Commission.

Area hospitals, auto dealers and the Hot Springs Village Property Owners Association were among the Pave It Forward campaign’s biggest patrons.

National Park Medical Center and CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs each contributed $10,000 in support of the bond issue voters approved by almost a two-to-one margin in the June 28 special election.

The Village’s property owners association also contributed $10,000.

The committee pitched the more than 5-mile, two-lane extension of the King Expressway that the bulk of the $54,695,000 bond issue will finance as a public safety imperative, connecting the Village and northern Garland County to faster ambulance service and quicker law enforcement response times.

Voters who cast ballots at northern Garland County vote centers overwhelmingly supported the referendum.

Committee Co-Chairman John Hearnsberger said last month that the two hospitals helped pay for the phone survey that a separate committee commissioned in December. About two-thirds of the 400 registered voters who responded said they were in favor of paying for the expressway extension with the five-eighths cent sales tax that’s currently paying down the capital improvement bonds that built the Garland County Detention Center.

Those bonds are expected to be retired by the end of the year. The sales tax will resume next July and begin paying down the road improvement bonds. The expressway extension is expected to be completed by 2023, which is when the sales tax is scheduled to sunset.

Hearnsberger said the auto dealer contributions were unsolicited. Allen Tillery Chevrolet, Buick GMC Inc. and Gregg Orr Toyota each contributed $2,000. Riser Nissan Inc., Riser Ford Lincoln, and the Cavenaugh Auto Group each contributed $1,000. National Park Chrysler/Jeep contributed $500.

The chamber’s political action committee and chamber-affiliated Fifty for the Future each contributed $10,000. Unlike individual candidates and PACs, committees advocating for a referendum can accept unlimited donations from individuals, businesses and political groups, according to the ethics commission.

The final report showed the committee had a zero balance. It paid the Kirby and Co. advertising and marketing firm $54,397 to coordinate the campaign. Less than 12 percent of the county’s 62,379 registered voters participated in the election.

The bond issue carried by a 4,608-2,639 margin.