Conway voters favored two sales tax rededications of 0.125 percent each during a special election Tuesday.
The rededication package, which failed when city of Conway officials proposed a similar initiative last May, passed with a total of 5,580 votes for and 2,826 votes against all four of the related tax measures, according to the unofficial results from the Faulkner County Election Commission.
The interdependent measures, which were voted on separately, were divided as follows: To split an existing 0.25 percent tax into two 0.125 percent levies.
The difference between last week’s vote and the special election in May, Mayor Tab Townsell said, was that city leaders met with more civic groups prior to Feb. 14 and expressed that “we needed help,” and the citizens responded with “Let’s get these things fixed.”
The existing tax was originally levied in 2006 to pay off about $4.5 million left on bonds used to pay for construction of Conway’s police station. The tax generates about $3 million annually.
Under the newly approved configuration, the city will take half of the existing sales tax to back the issuing of new bonds to pay off the police station’s old debt and to service $8 million in bonds to buy equipment and vehicles for the fire and sanitation departments. The new bonds should be paid off by 2022.
The other 0.125 percent tax will provide extra cash for the city’s general fund and, over time, should create a cash reserve for emergencies.
In recent years, the city has borrowed money from its sanitation fund and other accounts to cover cash flow shortages in the general fund, Townsell said.
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