City Council approves half-mill tax increase

The tax increase tacks $50 per $100,000 of appraised value.

The property tax rate for the city was increased by the City Council during a special meeting Monday night.

The property tax rate for 2017, to be collected in 2018, will be 5.5 mills following the amendment, which is up from the 5 mills collected this year.

One mill is equal to one dollar collected per thousand dollars of assessed value, meaning the new rate will result in a tax liability of $550 per $100,000 in assessed value, up from $500 per $100,000 of assessed value.

Mayor Peter Christie said it is important to note this refers to assessed value, not market value. The tax is calculated using one fifth of the value as set by the Benton County Tax Assessor’s office.

The property tax rate, he said, has to be authorized by City Council each year and typically requires a special meeting because the deadline comes before the City Council’s regular meeting.

Christie said he hopes the increased millage will be offset by savings on homeowner’s insurance now that the city’s ISO rating has improved, from a 6 to a 4/4x rating that could result in lower premiums.

The need for additional funding, he said, is driven by the city’s growth, which is putting additional stress on the city’s services and infrastructure.

At this point, he said, budget requests from different departments are calling for 18 new employees, including nine firefighters — which will be funded partially through federal SAFER grant funds — an additional information technology worker, a geographic information system technician and chief inspector for the Community Development Services Department, an additional library employee and four police personnel.

Police Chief James Graves said that, now that he’s had time to examine his staff, he believes it is understaffed. A standard department, he said, has two-anda-half officers per thousand residents, while Bella Vista has nine tenths of an officer per thousand people.

While the department has adequate staff to respond to calls, he said, it doesn’t have enough officers to work proactively.

“I want to be proactive,” he said. “The demographics in Bella Vista are changing, we have a lot of houses being built, we have a lot of younger families moving in.”

Graves said he believes Bella Vista could have more drug activity that could be found with officers specifically working to track it down. Additionally, he said, having additional roles in the department could allow officers to see variation in their work, which could help reduce turnover.

Another step, he said, is

moving from the standard five-day work week to four 10-hour shifts. It’s more of a scheduling headache, he said, but it’s preferable for workers, who get a longer weekend to recover. With four additional people, he said, this could be doable.

“One of the problems with smaller agencies is retaining your people who you’ve spent a lot of money training,” he said.

Graves estimated the department invests about $100,000 in an officer by the time they’ve finished field training.

He would not be likely to spread out these hires, he said, because hiring them immediately would allow for the scheduling change.

Additionally, he said, he’d like to restructure the command staff and hire an additional patrol lieutenant who could spend time working in the field, which could provide better officer supervision.

The Police Department is also working on a joint venture with the Fire Department to improve the city’s dispatch center.

The next step, he said, is prearrival software, which will help provide consistent prearrival instructions. The departments, he said, will be splitting that cost.

This is an important step, he said, toward making Bella Vista a primary public safety answering point, or

PSAP, for the 911 system.

Street superintendent Mike Button said his department is going to be building a salt and sand storage facility on the east side of town, projected to cost $65,000. He intends to start some drainage improvements as well.

His department also needs a material stacker to deal with the current salt and sand storage, he said, because the stockpile is getting tall enough to require it. He intends to get a used unit, he said, because it isn’t something the department is likely to use frequently.

Christie said that additional

expenses for 2018 could include a billing system for the water system Bella Vista is attempting to purchase from Centerton. Additionally, he said, while the paving of lower Suits Us Drive came in under budget, some expenses may make it into 2018 if construction cannot be finished before the year’s end.

“That’s about it,” he said. “There’s a lot of stuff happening.”

The council started its regularly-scheduled work session right after the meeting, where it discussed purchasing a plot of land for the sand and salt storage facility on the east side of town, electric work at the library, grant money for the Police Department, designating Bella Vista Community Church as a trailhead, employee health insurance for 2018 and garbage rates for 2018 — which are expected to increase by 40 cents per month.