About 50 people gathered in Mt. Harmony Baptist Church Monday night for a community forum about the proposed Go Forward Pine Bluff five-eighths cent sales tax. Representatives of the Go Forward Pine Bluff committee gave a presentation about the plan and answered questions, most of which came from attendees who were skeptical about the idea of a new tax.
It was the third of four community forums scheduled before the Pine Bluff City Council votes on whether to hold a special election to allow residents to vote on the tax. The tax is projected to raise $31.5 million over seven years beginning in 2018. Together with $20 million in grants and donations raised privately, the tax would fund projects such as a municipal master plan and blight removal with the goal of attracting businesses to expand the city’s tax base.
Mary Pringos, chairwoman of the Go Forward Pine Bluff initiative, said its members were spurred to action by the city’s ongoing population loss — from 57,140 in 1990 to 49,083 in 2010, to an estimated 44,772 in 2015 — and the strain it was placing on municipal services. The city’s three school districts were in academic distress when the group formed, she said, which hindered the city from attracting businesses looking for an adequately trained workforce.
Overseen by Carla Martin, vice chancellor for finance and administration at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, a cross-section of 100 volunteers met for most of 2016 to produce the Go Forward Pine Bluff plan. The plan makes 27 recommendations in areas including government and infrastructure, education, economic development and quality of life.
Martin gave a presentation Monday about the 27 recommendations. The recommendations include ideas such as an education alliance between school board presidents and superintendents of the three school districts; an innovation hub downtown to spur small business creation; and events to attract visitors such as an annual basketball tournament and baseball tournament and a “Celebrate the Delta” festival.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Tommy May, chairman of the Simmons Foundation, repeated talking points he had made about the plan at previous events. The objective of the plan is to expand the city’s tax base in order to retain its existing population and attract new residents, he said. The plan’s focus on restoring downtown, which some have criticized as ignoring other areas of the city, is necessary in order to make the city “a point of destination,” he said. The idea is to ensure there are enough amenities that residents throughout the delta come to Pine Bluff instead of Little Rock to shop and eat, as well as residents of Pine Bluff itself.
“We don’t want everyone to move to Pine Bluff,” he said. “We want some people to come, spend their money and go home.”
The Go Forward representatives drew several questions from skeptical audience members. One audience member asked about a recommendation in the plan to extend the 2011 three-eighths-cent economic development sales tax when it comes up for renewal in 2018.
Martin said that the three-eighths-cent sales tax was not part of the Go Forward plan, but that its 100 volunteers supported renewing it when the tax sunsets in 2018. Leaders of the Economic Development Alliance for Jefferson County have credited incentives created by the tax for attracting businesses such as Highland Pellets.
“So there’s a high probability that [the five-eighths cent Go Forward tax] will be taxed at the same time?” the audience member asked.
May said there was. He acknowledged that the city was already overtaxed, but he said the new tax is necessary to turn the city around. The new tax is projected to cost about $15 a month per household.
Alderman Steven Mays then spoke, saying he was against the tax. He criticized one recommendation of the plan, which is to create a civil service commission. Mt. Harmony Pastor Robert Handley, who was facilitating the forum, told Mays the forum was an informational session and took the microphone back from him.
Gary Wilson, a member of the Pine Bluff Advertising and Promotion Commission who has been critical of the plan in previous meetings, noted that the city had passed a five-eighths cent sales tax in 2011 to fund an aquatic center and multi-purpose center, but still has not broken ground on either project.
“Why should we trust you again with our money?” Wilson said.
May said he could not speak for the city and why it had not broken ground on the two projects. He said the tax was necessary to broaden the city’s tax base and eventually create more revenue to raise salaries for police and firefighters. Currently their salaries are not competitive with other cities, and he said if the trend continues, the city will at some point have to provide services despite losing more officers.
“If you don’t trust us, find someone with a better plan,” May said.
Another woman, who criticized the plan at a previous City Council meeting but declined to give her name to the Commercial, said that the leaders of Simmons Bank have witnessed downtown Pine Bluff deteriorate for many years.
“If Simmons was that invested in our community, why [spearhead this plan] now?” she said. She asked why Simmons could not contribute the $31.5 million that Go Forward is asking from the public, many of whom are low-income.
It’s not clear whether May understood the question. He responded that doing what the city needs will take $50 million. He acknowledged that Pine Bluff residents are overtaxed, but said if the questioner could find a way to get to that figure without a sales tax, “I’ll be the first” to support it.
Pamela Hayes, a resident who said she grew up on the east side of Pine Bluff, said she was troubled by a lack of transparency about who will control the tax money. She asked who would choose how the money is spent.
May responded that three facilitators with professional experience would be hired. Hayes said citizens should be able to vote on that.
“Who’s doing the choosing? Who’s doing the hiring?” Hayes said.
May said the facilitators would be chosen by a committee comprised of representatives appointed by the mayor and of Go Forward Pine Bluff.
Another resident, Miller Lafitte, said the frequency of the trains coming through downtown Pine Bluff could make spending a lot of money to beautify that area problematic. Lafitte, who said a switching station installed behind his house near east 2nd Avenue and Florida Street more than a year ago was causing an enormous amount of noise, asked whether anything was being done about train noise.
May said he thought that Pine Bluff Rising, another group involved in improving the city, was working with Union Pacific to establish a quiet zone downtown.
Handley ended the meeting by saying he had pastored at Mt. Harmony for 40 years, and he supported the plan.
“I can [tell] you that today, I have more members in the Dallas metro area than in Pine Bluff, because they couldn’t find a job,” he said.