Two stories in Sunday’s paper offer ammunition for the defeat of the Go Forward Pine Bluff-proposed five-eighths-percent sales tax and a separate three-eighths-percent sales tax — both of which will be decided in Tuesday’s special election.
One story was on Go Forward CEO Ryan Watley’s pay, which came in at almost $170,000 in 2021. That information is available on the group’s federal 990 form that nonprofits have to submit to the IRS, and 2021 is the most recent year available. It would not be a stretch that he was given a raise in 2022, but those documents have not yet been filed.
The amount is eye-popping. We can’t imagine the pay of many nonprofit executives rising above $100,000 in these parts, much less to the stratosphere where Watley’s pay hovers.
Go Forward Chairman Tommy May said Watley’s salary is consistent with what Watley, who holds a doctorate in chemistry, could make at a major university.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
A Google search of chemistry professors shows an average of less than half of what Watley is making, but even if he were to be fortunate and nab a fabulous job in academia or research, it still looks out of balance for him to make more than the mayor, the fire chief, the police chief and even the governor of the state of Arkansas as the director of a nonprofit with fewer than five employees.
Beyond that, however, it is the part about where his pay comes from that is most troubling. The simple fact of the matter is that information is a secret.
May said the money comes from the “business sector” and said “I cannot and will not disclose these names.”
That stance plays perfectly into the hands of those who complain that Go Forward operates with little to no transparency – their meetings are off limits to the public – and because of the lack of transparency, there is no accountability.
Without knowing where Watley’s pay comes from, no one outside of the Go Forward inner sanctum knows where Watley’s and Go Forward’s allegiances lie.
And yet, Go Forward leverages almost every last dime of some $30 million that has been raised in tax money from its five-eights-percent sales tax.
The other sales tax up for adoption at the polls is one for three-eighths of a cent, which is for public safety. The second story in Sunday’s paper was about the fact that, as far as is known, the Fraternal Order of Police and Fraternal Order of Firefighters had not endorsed the tax.
One of the firefighters said that he didn’t think there was much support because the ballot title didn’t spell out how the money would be used and that other similar sales taxes had not been of much help to public safety.
But if you’ll notice, the emblems of the Pine Bluff Police Department and the Pine Bluff Fire Department are stamped on all of the Go Forward campaign signs. That would indicate to some that the two departments were gung-ho supporters of the effort. As it turns out, the emblems are apparently not copyrighted and can be used willy-nilly.
All in all, it’s time to retire the five-eighths-percent tax and not keep it around for another seven years. It hasn’t been without its positives, but its negatives are too great. The same goes for the public safety tax. If the rank-and-file police officer and firefighter can’t bring themselves to support the three-eighths-percent tax, that says enough right there.
Today is the last day for early voting. Tomorrow is the special election, with polls open from 7:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.