Go Forward uncertain of what’s next after vote

Two months have passed since Pine Bluff voters said no — for the second time in 2023 — to an ongoing five-eighths-cent sales and use tax and proposed three-eighths-cent tax to benefit fire and police departments.

The measures were sponsored by Go Forward Pine Bluff, a nonprofit group that successfully promoted the five-eighths-cent tax during a 2017 election. It had been met with widespread criticism, however, over how it determined which projects to fund with limited public input and the length of time it took to complete those.

That tax will sunset Sept. 30 of this year, raising questions over the fate of Go Forward as the March 5 primary elections for many city offices including mayor draw near. (None of the Go Forward positions are elected offices.)

“Right now, we’re just working and committed to completing the projects that we’ve started,” said Go Forward CEO Ryan Watley, who said in previous interviews his $170,000 a year salary is paid from private funds and not tax dollars. “Honestly we can’t predict the future. It has been our focus to finish what we have started. We’re working with several different funders to do that. All of this is still fresh and new to everyone. We’re really just taking this a day at a time.”

Since its establishment in 2016, Go Forward set out to lead a transformation of Pine Bluff — a city that has dwindled in population by about 37% since the late 1980s — through economic development, education, government and infrastructure, and quality of life, which the organization considers its four pillars.

The nonprofit, based in the Simmons North building on Fifth Avenue, is led by a 14-person board with former Simmons Bank CEO Tommy May as the chairman. Questions to May regarding this article were sent via email, but The Commercial received no responses.

Five employed members of Go Forward’s leadership staff including Watley are listed on its website. Go Forward has also been a driver behind the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency, which is led by an executive director.

Watley said Go Forward has not decided if it will either continue in its same structure, reorganize or cease operations by the time the five-eighths-cent tax sunsets.

“If anyone has an opportunity, we want them to solidify their employment, but right now, Go Forward Pine Bluff is working each day,” Watley said.

Among its ongoing projects, Go Forward is backing the Sixth and Main Plaza, a housing project at Sixth Avenue and Georgia Street, a go-kart facility at the old Admiral Benbow Inn on East Harding Avenue, a housing district for ALICE (asset limited, income constrained, yet employed) families, and a new hotel next to the Pine Bluff Convention Center. Go Forward has also been a primary supporter of the King Cotton Holiday Classic basketball tournament each December since 2018.

With the latest defeat of the tax measures — a special election was also held in May — city and Go Forward officials are racing to complete as many projects as possible before the sunset date.

“So with the money that’s coming in between now and September, my goal is that I hope we can work together to utilize that money to finish those projects, but we all know the projects may not be completed,” Mayor Shirley Washington said. “We want to get as close to the homestretch or the finish line as possible, and we know as a city, we know we have to take on those projects if they are not completed by the time the last tax dollars have been expended. We have to be proactive in making sure we are monitoring those projects to get maximum benefit out of those 2017 sales tax dollars that are remaining to come in to be ready to drive home those projects to completion if they are not already.”

The food hub at Sixth and Main, Washington said, is about 80% close to completion with restaurant equipment believed to be what she called the last big-ticket item purchased. Washington also wants to see the go-kart park completed “right now” because she’d like to see how the building to the park will look. That, she said, is the next big-ticket item yet to be paid for.

The apartment project at Sixth and Georgia, known as The Flats on Sixth, has apparently run into an obstacle. Washington said she received information that Dallas-Fort Worth area companies Cedar Crest Development and KEE Concrete and Construction would not be able to move forward because of projects already underway they could spend money on. A group co-founded by NFL great Emmitt Smith was selected as the general contracting firm.

A message seeking comment was left for KEE managing partner Kelley Eubanks, but Watley said Go Forward has put out “feelers” for other investors, although it intends to honor the agreement with KEE and Cedar Crest.

“They have to eventually tell us they’re done, but we haven’t seen that,” Watley said. “If we find other suitable investors, we can notify the developers we no longer will partner with them.”

“This is part of development when working with different entities. We’ve known, looking at other cities, you have these ups and downs. I thank Ms. Eubanks for the work she’s putting in, and we’ll bring it home.”

But getting the housing project going is of immediate importance to Washington.

“Those are bringing in investors. So, I think our biggest contribution is a contribution of the land,” she said. “We are aggressively looking at somebody else who can come in and help with some apartments or duplexes or whatever to build it out.”

According to city documents, through last Nov. 30, Pine Bluff boasted $5,469,407 in assets and liabilities for 2023 from the 2017 sales tax. It had $7,439,877 in that category for 2022.

The city adopted a $4,827,550 from the sales tax fund for 2023, with Jan. 1 as the start of each fiscal year.

Watley noted Go Forward began 2024 with a cash balance of $5,052,000 and projects $4 million in revenue for this year on a nine-month basis. The most recent report, for December, will come on or about Jan. 27, he said.

In addition, Go Forward ended October 2023 with a cash balance of $2,475,718, exceeding its projection of $1,701,563.

Washington said she hopes the city will continue to do well in that category, adding she has been meeting with Watley to keep an eye on the projects.

“One of the things is we have to make sure we are not wasting any money,” she said. “We are saving money on every hand that we can. If we have any overage like revenue, or if we have any money in our budget that’s carryover, we’re putting that money back into a fund so we’ll have money to rely on if we need it.”

Even the winter storm of last week may prove to be a blessing in disguise for Pine Bluff’s coffers, the mayor reasoned.

“Let’s say the ice storm we just had, that can cause the sales tax that for the month that this tax will come in on to be a little higher than normal, because if it was a normal month, people wouldn’t have gone out to spend the dollars they spent to prepare to hunker in, right? So, sales tax expenditures may be a few dollars more,” Washington said.

The recent opening of Chick-fil-A on South Olive Street will lead to an increase in tax revenue, Washington added.

“They seemed to be doing pretty well the last time I stopped by,” Washington said. “They’re still going and they’re still saying, ‘Thank you for bringing Chick-fil-A to Pine Bluff.’ I tell them, ‘Keep eating at Chick-fil-A so those tax dollars can come in and benefit our city.'”