16 - Opinion (Local Issue)

 

Faulkner County Tax Split Proposal: 

Just like the major idea of voting Issue 1 here in Arkansas, in Faulkner County the Sheriff's Office is all for this new tax split proposal. This new proposal would give the sheriffs a bigger piece of the county road sales tax funds. Faulkner County Sheriff Tim Ryals is hopeful voters will understand the importance of this proposal and vote yes. "We are extremely frugal and conservative in our spending due to our limited budget. It is good to be frugal, but it can be very dangerous in our line of work. Voting for reallocation will help us keep our growing community safe and protect our citizens through this season without raising taxes."  The tax was originally split 1% sales tax with 60% going to the sheriff's office, 35% to the county road fund and 2.5% to both the animal control department and the 911 emergency response. Now it is split 50/50 between the county road fund and the sheriff's office. 

Local farmers, community business leaders, and the county Mayor joined forces last month opposing this new proposal idea. They created an organization called Keep Faulkner County Moving Forward with its main purpose of defeating the tax split proposal. Their approach to the issue is basically why fix it if it isn't broken? Which I honestly agree with the numbers show that Faulkner County is moving in a good direction as last year $9.4 million was generated through this tax. The Faulkner County Treasurer Scott Sanson was cooperative in providing numbers to put this proposal into perspective. "So far we're up by 7.97% this year. It's a fantastic year. It's the best growing revenue stream in the county." 

The Faulkner County Justice of the Peace Steve Goode was one of the first to push for the issue. If this proposal doesn't pass other branches in the county could suffer tremendously. "We have the funding to build the animal control facility today, but we don't have the funding to operate it. Either this passes or we don't get an animal shelter, in two years, the county will need about $1 million to upgrade the 911 system. We don't have the funding." It seems like either way this proposal goes somewhere in the county budget there will be a shortage. For a complete list of the Sheriff needs, opposing statements, and road improvements you can find them through this link.