A group of El Dorado residents will ask the city council to hold a special election this summer to approve a one-cent sales tax.
The group, registered with the Arkansas Ethics Commission as El Dorado Works, wants the new sales tax to replace a similar one approved in 2007 that will expire this year.
Don Hale, one of the directors of El Dorado Works, said in an interview that the group — and the El Dorado community, generally — has seen the benefits of the 2007 tax and how it helped improve infrastructure and create jobs. He said the new tax is expected to do the same over a 10-year period.
“Make no mistake, it’s driven by the success of the previous tax,” Hale said.
Hale said the new tax, if approved, would be distributed across several areas:
- 32 percent would go to public works
- 20 percent would go to new construction and maintenance
- 15 percent would go to community development projects, such as playground and park improvements, as well as walking trails
- 15 percent would go toward economic development initiatives
- 12 percent would go to festival and city development
- And 6 percent would receive no designation
In a news release announcing the proposal, Mayor Frank Hash said he was supportive of the measure.
“I’m not a tax person per se, but I’m firmly convinced that El Dorado needs the one-cent tax in order to accomplish many critical needs,” Hash said. “The clock is rapidly running out on the present tax. Implementing a new one would be best served if a minimum of time elapsed.”
Hale said he was hopeful the city would approve a new tax, citing recent polling which he said showed high approval ratings for the new tax and several tax-funded projects. He said the group hopes to present the proposal to the city council sometime in April, and “as early as next week.”