Prairie Grove To Consider Sales Tax Question

PRAIRIE GROVE — Prairie Grove City Council will have a special meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, July 2, to discuss whether to ask voters to approve a local sales tax to hire more emergency personnel.

The meeting will be in the district courtroom.

Council members gave the OK at their June 18 meeting to consider an ordinance on the issue. At the time, the discussion focused on a quarter-cent sales tax for hiring police officers and firefighters.

Council members passed a motion asking City Attorney Steven Parker to draw up an ordinance to place a sales tax question on the November ballot.

Mayor Sonny Hudson said the ordinance would have to be adopted by July 9 to meet the deadline for the November election.

The ordinance on Monday’s agenda leaves a blank for the sales tax rate, Hudson said.

Fire Chief J.C. Dobbs is asking the Council to place a question on the November ballot for a .50-percent sales tax rate, instead of .25-percent sales tax.

Dobbs last week said he did not believe a .25-percent sales tax would bring in enough money to hire both firefighters and police officers.

Dobbs, who also serves on Prairie Grove School Board, had planned to attend the Council’s June 18 meeting to advocate for the higher rate but was not able to make it because a school board executive session the same night lasted more than three hours.

He was planning to call Council members one-on-one to “plead” his case, he said.

“As a taxpayer myself, I don’t see much difference in a quarter cent versus a half cent,” Dobbs said. “I buy everything I can in Prairie Grove. I buy groceries in Prairie Grove and eat out in Prairie Grove. I’ll feel the pain like everyone else.”

Prairie Grove has one full-time fire position and staffs other part-time positions with firefighters who work full-time for other departments, such as Fayetteville and Springdale.

Ideally, Prairie Grove would have three firefighters on duty 24 hours per day. For now, Dobbs said he would like to be able to have one firefighter on duty 24 hours every day. This would require hiring three new firefighters. Dobbs said he does not think a .25-percent sales tax would be enough for this and also bring in enough money for more police officers.

Hudson said city officials estimate a .25-percent sales tax would bring in about $135,000 annually in tax revenues.