Little Rock Mayor Stodola Wants to Raise Taxes, Surprise, Surprise.

             Mark Stodola, The Mayor, says “city can no longer take a ‘Band-Aid’ approach to providing services and needs residents to approve a higher sales tax”.

            When the current ½ % sales tax was first implemented in 1995 it was a $12 million addition to the budget; it now produces $22.5 million; not a bad little increase. Probably better than some of us have received over the same time span, at least my income and my 401K looks at that 87.5% increase enviably.

            Seems that part of the Mayor’s problem is jealousy. It appears that several “smaller” cities in the state have a higher sales tax percentage and income. Fort Smith has a 2% sales tax that rakes in $37 million annually versus the Capital City’s meagerly $22.5 million.

            And yes, he threw the ‘usual list’ of threatened services under the bus: resurfacing the cities streets doesn’t even have a budget line item, can’t maintain the cities parks, much less mow their grass, and the police have three year old cars and it’s time to buy new ones.

            Other cost cutting measures over the last two years has the city short 200 positions that apparently were authorized in prior, plushier times.

            What was missing in the “Politicians Plea for Further Tax Increases” was any supporting information.

            For example, it was reported that the sales tax revenue has increase 87.5% since 1995, but not how much percentage growth in the city’s budget or manpower over the same period.

            It would also be enlightening to understand the city's population growth from 1995 to 2010 both on an absolute and percentage increase.

The city has 200 open positions today, but what was the total number of employees in 1995 versus 2010? What is the percentage growth in the number of employees?

The city has a budget of $134 million; where do they spend it?

Are the City Directors giving automatic salary increases to employees even while cutting services like repaving roads and maintaining city parks?

As for three years old police cars, does that mean that the cars are worn out, high mileage, broken down, unsafe for the officers or citizens, or just time to join the State of Arkansas in buying some more cars? I want the police to have cars that run, are safe to drive, and have the equipment needed for their safety and ours. But the fact that they are driving 3 year old cars doesn’t “resonate” with me and my 15 year-old van. Of course I’m not going to be chasing the extra 6,880 “non-violent” criminals that Governor Beebe proposes to unleash on us over the next 10 years. So maybe the police do need more cars, not just newer models because “it hasn’t purchased new police cars in three years”.

For reasons not yet understood the citizens voted two years ago to actually pay The Mayor Stodola $35,000 a year. What do we get for that? Higher taxes.

The local paper noted “City directors didn’t know what to expect from Stodola until the noon speech…”.  Many of us who may have voted for him now share that same concern: we don’t know what to expect from Stodola in the future, but obviously higher taxes is one of them.

But rest easy taxpayer, he threw in a comment that he hoped the citizens would also approve an additional “temporary tax for capital projects”. Makes one wonder if the 1995 sales tax was sold to the citizens as a “temporary tax”.

It is refreshing to learn that politicians just don’t change. They always want more money and offer to be prudent with the new funds if approved and to cut vital services if not approved.

           I suggest that we start with the Mayor’s salary as a new source of city funds. It would make me feel better when one of the new capital projects results in the newly constructed but over budget “Stodola Center for Something or Other” opens.