JPs favor special vote on extending sales tax

Proceeds to help fix roads, bridges

HOT SPRINGS — The Garland County Quorum Court on Monday night authorized a Feb. 8 special election to extend the 0.625% countywide sales tax another five years.

The proceeds would fund the improvement and replacement of existing roads, including bridges, overpasses, underpasses and sidewalks, according to the ballot title the Garland County Quorum Court Public Health, Welfare and Safety Committee advanced to the full Quorum Court. The tax would be levied from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2027.

“This is something we get more calls on than anything else, which is bad roads,” County Judge Darryl Mahoney told the committee. “I think it’s only fitting we ask the general public if they’re willing to extend that for five years.

“It’s not to build a new road. It’s not to build a new bridge, unless we replace one we’ve already got. It’s strictly to take care of what we’ve already got. It’s not to expand our infrastructure system.”

Voters first authorized the tax in an October 2011 special election. Collections began in April 2012, with the proceeds securing $41 million in bonds that financed the construction of the Garland County Detention Center at 3564 Albert Pike Road.

Voters reauthorized the tax in a June 2016 special election. Collections resumed July 1, 2017, with the proceeds securing $54.6 million in bonds that are financing road improvements. The county contributed $30 million of the proceeds to the $79 million extension of the King Expressway from the U.S. 70 east interchange to the junction of Arkansas 5 and Arkansas 7.