ELKINS CITY COUNCIL : Aldermen approve Sept. 9 water tax vote
Posted on Tuesday, July 8, 2008
ELKINS - Voters finally have a date they can mark on the calendar.
At a special meeting Monday night, the City Council unanimously voted to hold a special election Sept. 9 for voters to determine whether they want to add a 1 cent sales tax to pay for water and sewer system improvements and whether to accept the bonds necessary to finance the improvements.
The council repealed the original ordinance for the election, which set the date for Aug. 12. City Attorney Danny Wright said the election could not be held Aug. 12 because the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration determined the city had not published the ordinance calling the election in a newspaper 50 days before the original election date in accordance with state law. Instead, the city opted to follow its own ordinance which allows the city to skip publishing the ordinance and simply post it at five public locations within the city: City Hall, the Elkhorn Station on Arkansas 16, the district courthouse, the post office and the water department.
At Monday's meeting, Wright said the city had to publish the election date in the newspaper today to satisfy the state's publication deadline.
Citizens will decide whether they want to levy the tax and whether it would go to purchasing bonds for a $ 6 million project to replace a 40-year-old, eight-inch line that runs from one end of the city to the other with a 14-inch line.
According the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, Elkins is one of three cities in Washington County that has a 1 cent sales tax. Elm Springs and Lincoln are the other two. Every other city has at least a 2 cent sales tax. Prairie Grove is at 2. 25 cents.
City Attorney Danny Wright said if the tax failed, the city would have to wait six months before it could ask for another vote.
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