Anti-impact fee group exceeds $40,000 in funds
Posted on Thursday, April 5, 2007
If the battle over road impact fees is determined by who has the biggest bank account, Citizens 4 Fayetteville will undoubtedly come out on top.
The group has raised more than $ 40, 000 to fight the impact fees, according to a financial report filed with the Arkansas Ethics Commission.
Vote For Fayetteville, which supports the fees, hasn't quite raised $ 1, 000.
"In candidate elections and most ballot issues, those with the most money can buy the election or usually win," said Stephen Smith, a communications professor at the University of Arkansas.
"It's going to depend on who goes to vote, who's the most motivated," Smith said.
What is interesting is that the city only puts on a large-scale education campaign, as in the case of last year's sales tax election, when Mayor Dan Coody supports the issue, said Smith, but "when a majority of the council is for something, there isn't one."
Citizens 4 Fayetteville received $ 30, 000 from state, local and national Realtor groups.
Vote For Fayetteville has received $ 985. 98, of which $ 205 came from Jeff Erf, a member of the group.
To date, Citizens has outspent Vote by a sizable margin. Citizens has spent $ 17, 615 on the election thus far, where Vote has spend $ 18. 41.
Erf said it isn't a shock that the other group raised more money, but what's surprising is that such a large chunk of it came from outside the community. He said that, where the group against the fees is well-organized and wellfinanced, his group is "basically a bunch of people that decided we'd like to put an ad in the paper."
Mike Henry, part of Citizens 4 Fayetteville, said the organization has generated such a large amount of financial support because there is a large concern over the impact fees.
"We think it's very bad for the city and we're trying to do everything we can to inform the electorate of the unintended consequences of this ordinance," Henry said.
The filings show the following contributors to Citizens 4 Fayetteville, listed in descending order • National Association of Realtors, $ 15, 000 • Arkansas Realtors Association, $ 10, 000 • Metro Area Board of Realtors, $ 5, 000 • Arvest Bank, $ 2, 000 • Richard Alexander, North College Development, $ 2, 000 • Charlie Sloan, $ 1, 500 • Jeff Koenig, $ 1, 000 • PMK Investments, $ 1, 000 • Northwest Arkansas Home Builders Association, $ 1, 000 • Bank of Fayetteville, $ 500 • Marshalltown Co., $ 500 • Martin Blackwood Investments, $ 500 • Neal Pendergraft, $ 500 The only contributor listed for Vote For Fayetteville was Erf.
More information on the impact fees can be found at www. accessfayetteville. org. Both groups have Web sites, at www. citizens 4 fayetteville. org and www. voteforfayetteville. org.
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