Taxing decision : Farmington residents to vote on tax increase for ballpark
Posted on Tuesday, October 7, 2008
FARMINGTON -- Voters will decide on Dec. 9 whether or not they want the highest city sales tax in Washington County.
The City Council voted unanimously at a special meeting Monday night to hold an election to ask residents if they want to levy two sales tax increases amounting to a three-quarter-percent sales tax and allow the city to issue bonds to pay for land and construction for a new baseball complex. If passed the city would be at a 2.75-percent sales tax, half a percent higher than the next highest Washington County City, Prairie Grove.
Additionally, according to the Arkansas Municipal League, a 2.75-percent city sales tax would rate Farmington as one of the five cities with the highest sales tax rates in the state.
Mayor Ernie Penn said one-quarter of the sales tax would be permanently dedicated to the city's parks and recreation facility improvements, including a new baseball complex. The city would stop collecting the remaining half percent as soon as it had repaid all the bonds used to purchase and construct the complex.
Penn said the council has been pondering the sales tax increase for a quite awhile, at least since talks of a new baseball facility for the city's youth baseball league started in March.
Christy Watson, president of the summer youth baseball board, has said the organization sees a 20-percent increase in players each year and has far outgrown its current location at the Farmington Public Schools. It currently has 32 teams using three baseball fields and 15 teams sharing one softball field. Around 650 kids take part in the program.
Penn said the school is on the verge of booting the program off the fields, especially since recent growth in the district has called for more buses and the school planned on turning some of the baseball fields into bus parking.
There was some opposition to even letting citizens vote for the tax. Gail True, a member of the city's Planning Commission, pleaded with the council to postpone the sales tax election.
"I'm not against the project. I am against the timing,"True said.
She pointed out that in an extremely depressed economy, the citizens of Farmington don't need another tax adding that a large number of the people already live in a "silent poverty"and are unable to feed and clothe their children.
"We're not a wealthy community, and the economy is not in good shape,"True said. "Right now Farmington should consider the burden that it's putting on its citizens."
True also said that if the tax was passed that Farmington would have a higher sales tax than neighboring Fayetteville making, it enticing for consumers to drive two miles east and make purchases at lower tax rates.
Penn said that the council does not make the decision on whether or not the tax is levied and he thought that the citizens should have the final say.
"It's a tough call,"he said. "Unfortunately the economic times now are not as great as we want it to be. But if you don't give people the opportunity (to vote for the tax) then you'll never know."
Penn said that the city is still looking for donations of money and services. It's also applying for state and private grants to fund the project, but one of the major requirements of most grants is that the applicants have a piece of property purchased for the project, he said.
If the tax and the bonds pass, the city will be able to purchase 18 acres of land off Southwinds Road at about $27,000 an acre. Penn said the city would dip into its reserve funds to make the purchase.
Penn pointed out that many volunteers have poured their hearts into planning and campaigning for the new complex, and he thinks if that passion is equal across the city, the issue should pass regardless of the economy.
If the bond issuance and two taxes pass, the city will begin taxing April 1. The city could purchase up to $2 million in bonds, though Penn said he doubted that much would be needed. He said that the bonds could be paid off in, at most, 10 years. Construction on the ballpark should be finished no later than 2010 Penn said.
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