Council to offer amendments on proposed bond

Mayor wants group to allow voters opportunity to extend tax collection

The third reading of an ordinance to hold a special election on a tax to fund a bond issue will be read this evening during a special called city council meeting.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m., following the swearing in of four council members whose terms were up for election last year.

"It has been indicated in some of the past meetings that some council members might want to make some amendments to this particular ordinance," said Forrest City Mayor Cedric Williams, who said he is open to discussing the ordinance.

"I would like to remind people that this ordinance is to call an election, to put before the citizens, to vote and choose on," said Williams.

Williams said the bond issues are for capital improvement projects. "It's more brick and mortar projects," he said. "This is what the sales and use tax is for."

Williams said the bond money could be used to buy a new car for the police department but hiring more officers, giving raises or offering hiring incentives is not allowed with bond money.

"Unfortunately, it can't be used for soft costs, such as salaries," said Williams. "But the benefit is if we can do some of these capital improvement projects with these sales and use taxes, it takes the pressure off our general fund to where we have more of that money in the general fund to look at some of those increases in soft costs."

Williams said Forrest City, like other cities, is experiencing a shortage in officers due to officers going into other professions.

Williams asked council members during a special called meeting last week to begin emailing one another and the media amendments for tonight's meeting.

"We can move things around and have an amendment motion, but the key is we come together, and we get it done by Jan. 6, and give our citizens an opportunity to decide themselves," said Williams. "It is very, very important that our citizens get the opportunity to choose and it doesn't get bogged down in politics and delays. We need to come together and decide."

Williams said the Jan. 6 deadline is important in order for the city to get the most funding possible for the projects.

"Interest rates are key. We are in the lowest interest rate environment historically," said Williams. "You get a bigger bang for your buck. We can have more money to do more projects, as long as the interest rates stay low like this."

Williams said that if the March election took place, the city would have the funds by June or July to begin working on projects.

"Historically, when there is a change in office, typically over time in that first term, there is an upturn in economic development and interest rates have the potential to rise," said Williams.

Williams also said that as mayor, he wants to be proactive and get projects done as soon as possible.

Williams said the tax would not be an additional tax, but instead an extension of the tax voters approved in 2013 to fund a bond for projects such as city hall and the aquatic center, among other things listed on the ballot.

Some of those projects were never completed.

“This is not a tax increase. What we are looking at is extending is the .625%," said Williams. "If approved by the voters, there won't be any change in that particular city tax rate, but we would have funds to do these capital improvement projects."

The 2013 tax also includes .250% that funds parks and recreation and is a permanent tax.

Williams said the bond from 2013 is set to be paid off seven years earlier than projected and that it is anticipated that the restructured bond would also be paid off earlier than projected.

"There are no fancy buildings in this particular bond issue. These are infrastructure needs and different things that benefit our citizens," said Williams. "The other thing is when you look at a lot of these items, all of these things have economic development opportunities.”

Williams said the new construction going on in and near the city now, such as Waffle House, Popeyes, the city’s solar arrays, the St. Francis County Jail and more are generating a lot of interest for the area.

"We've got to move now to position ourselves to take advantage of these growth opportunities," said Williams. "The more growth opportunities we take advantage of, the more people will come to live in Forrest City and the more people will get off the interstate and do business in Forrest City. That is more sales tax revenue that we receive here in Forrest City and that helps all of us in the area."

Williams offered an example of one of the items in the water improvement bond issue – the water softening system – that could be paid through the bond issue to help the city and surrounding area.

"People have talked about how hard the water is here in Forrest City for years and how it does damage to the appliances," said Williams, adding that the reason nothing had been done on that is the cost for the upgrade.

"I have heard people ask why the city of Forrest City doesn’t use money the water department has to build their own water softening system, instead of doing it in a bond issue." said Williams.

Williams explained that even if the city took funding from reserves of the water department, a loan would also have to be secured to fund the project.

“By taking a loan against the water department, guess who is responsible for paying that loan back? The citizens," said Williams. “In order to pay that loan back we would have to pass those additional costs on to the people who do business with our water department in the form of higher water bills."

Williams said that in his opinion, the “beauty of the bond issue” is that it was paid back through sales and use taxes which not only came from citizens in the area but others doing business in town as well.

"That way we don't have to raise our citizens' water bills," said Williams.

Williams said the city believes the maintenance for the softener system would be absorbed through the water department’s maintenance being better due to lack of hard water and new solar system.

"We feel very comfortable we can do this, maintain it and not affect people's rates," he said.

Williams discussed the extension of water and sewer services to the Highway 1 Bypass, saying the reason specifics on where on the services were going to be run are omitted due to the city wanting to be strategic with the funding in a way that benefits the city most for bringing in businesses.

"The legal language within the ballot issue, when you say bypass, it is a general term, but it is no secret that we want to develop the bypass out there," said Williams.

He said a study done in 2010 revealed it would cost $10 million to run sewer and water to the entirety of the bypass.

"And going into 2021 it hasn't been developed to its potential to that," said Williams. "There has been interest in projects out toward the bypass but the first questions asked of me is about utilities."

He said water and sewer are separated on the bond issue because it is cheaper to run water than sewer, as well as to keep the issues itemized.

"We also have infrastructure improvements in the four wards under sewer improvement bonds," said Williams.

Williams said most issues stemmed from lines not being installed incorrectly, across private property, installed during an era when code enforcement didn't exist or lines having different codes now than when they were installed.

"It's causing issues and these issues cost money to fix," said Williams. "So when it comes to doing these drainage studies, or acquiring easements along some of these lines, or running some of these particular lines, that is a cost that can be absorbed by the bond issue."

Williams said he hoped to partner with other organizations for revitalization efforts in neighborhoods and downtown areas.

Streetscape improvements would also include street, curb, gutter and minor drainage improvements, whereas drainage improvement bonds would have the 'heavy lifting' costs of culverts and other items.

“We can do what we did for the roads," said Williams. "Have someone come in and do a condition study of our drainage. We have drainage problems. Especially in Ward 1 and Ward 2."

Williams said that a study of the system would help identity specific drainage issues to fix them the right way.

A lot of the issues concerning water, drainage, sewer and street also allowed for small easement acquisitions so that the city could legally fix what needed to be fixed around pipes, ditches and curbs.

There are several bond issues that have been highly debated during the council meetings about the bonds.

Some of those issues include an HVAC system for the animal shelter, library improvements, a dog park and improvements at the Sports Complex, to include artificial turf.

Williams said he expects the council to suggest changes in the parks and recreation issue due to several council members feeling that a dog park is not needed for the city and the disagreement over a downtown amphitheater.

Williams stressed the importance of bringing issues forward for voters to choose which items they wanted. Williams said it is important to note that the bond issues are separate issues and if put before voters would be voted on separately.

"Those issues that do not get passed would just have that amount fall off the bond," said Williams.

Funds from the bond issues, if approved, could only be used for that particular issue.

"I want to make sure people realize that the amounts next to these items have been researched and given documentation on the data for each item to budget," said Williams. "They are databased numbers."