Elkins to vote Tuesday on 1-cent sales tax
Posted on Sunday, September 7, 2008
Will taxes go up in Elkins ?
Tuesday marks the day residents of Elkins will vote on whether or not they want to tack on another 1-cent sales tax to pay for what city officials describe as a "much needed"water line stretching along Arkansas 16.
"I guess we all just need to show up and vote our opinions," Mayor Jack Ladyman told aldermen at their regular council meeting Thursday.
The Elkins Community Building will be the lone polling site open for the election. Polls are open from 7: 30 a.m. to 7: 30 p.m. Tuesday.
Voters will have two decisions to make on their ballots: whether or not to add a 1-cent sales tax to pay for water and sewer system improvements and whether or not to accept the bonds necessary to finance the improvements.
Mike Lemaster, chairman of the Water and Sewer Committee, has said the committee basically wants to replace the 40-year-old, 8-inch line that runs from one end of the city to the other with a 14-inch line.
The city needs to pass the tax because the sewer line currently lies inside the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department's right of way, Lemaster said. If the transportation department ever widened Arkansas 16, the city would have to scramble for money to move the line.
The improvement will cost about $ 1. 9 million.
Ladyman said the sales tax is really the best way to pay for the construction. He said the only other way is to raise water rates, which puts the burden of paying on a much smaller group of people.
"The way the economy is now, we have to go with what has the least impact on people," he said.
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 levied. Prairie Grove is at 2. 25 cents.
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