City’s projects get OK by vote

Fort Smith tax to stay at 9.25%

FORT SMITH — Fort Smith voters on Tuesday handily approved a handful of public improvements and recreation projects that will be paid for through the rededication of a 1 percent city sales tax.

With 48 of 48 precincts reporting, the complete but unofficial results were:

0.25 percent sales tax for fire department and parks and recreation purposes: For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,555 Against . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,453

Refunding bonds and 0.75 percent sales tax: For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,433 Against . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,545

Wastewater improvement bonds and 0.75 percent sales tax: For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,514 Against . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,464

Water improvement bonds and 0.75 percent sales tax: For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4,446 Against . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,466

Firefighting improvement bonds and 0.75 percent sales tax: For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4,645 Against . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,368

Aquatics Center improvement bonds and 0.75 percent sales tax: For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,836 Against . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,149

Voters’ agreement to rededicate the 1 percent city sales tax means Fort Smith’s tax rate will remain at 9.25 percent. The breakdown is: 6 percent state sales tax, 2 percent city sales tax, 1 percent countywide sales tax, and 0.25 percent sales tax for the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

The projects requiring bonds total nearly $168 million. With passage of the projects, 0.75 percent of the 1 percent sales tax will be extended from 2014 to 2027, according to city officials. The 0.25 percent tax will sunset after 10 years.

Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders and City Administrator Ray Gosack thanked residents for the strong turnout — nearly 15 percent of registered voters — in Tuesday’s one-issue special election.

“I am very pleased with the significant margin of passage,” Sanders said.

Despite the complicated, six-question ballot, Gosack said he believed voters understood what they were voting for and sent a clear message that the community supported the projects and that a sales tax was the best way to pay for them.

City officials asked for the vote to make needed improvements to the city’s firefighting coverage and facilities. Fire Chief Mike

Richards said an additional fire station is needed at Chaffee Crossing and most of the remaining 10 fire stations around town need major renovations. Also, Richards said the department must replace three pumper trucks and three ladder trucks immediately.

Officials also had asked for improvements to the city’s parks, including building more neighborhood parks, additional softball and soccer fields and additional trails and greenways.

Two of the softball fields would replace fields for a girls softball league that lost the fields at Andrews Field when the city donated the land for expansion of Fort Smith National Cemetery.

Parks officials also are considering developing 51 acres the city owns north of downtown for a possible adult soccer complex.

Fort Smith and Sebastian County officials agreed to split the cost of building and operating an estimated $8 million aquatics park at the county’s Ben Geren Regional Park.

Sebastian County officials agreed to provide the county’s share of the cost from a capital improvements account that is funded by a 1 percent countywide sales tax.

Fort Smith also is required to make continued federally mandated improvements to the city’s wastewater system, and officials want to extend water service into Chaffee Crossing and the city’s southern growth region and from the city’s water treatment plant at Mountainburg.