Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Smith To Work For Sales Tax Dollars

Gurdon Mayor Rick Smith is gearing up for a fight.

His opponent will be Clark County, with the prize Gurdon's part of a one-cent countywide sales tax.

When the Gurdon City Council approved the Year 2000 budget in January, all of the council members were disappointed because the numbers weren't what they wanted to see.

This meant city workers were not given a cost of living raise, because the money wasn't there, even though the budget had been trimmed.

The budget for the Gurdon Police Department is the same it was in 1999, Smith said, and it is the largest department with the most employees.

The GPD January budget was exceeded by $300, an ill omen for the remainder of the year.

The Gurdon Street Department, he said, was under budget for the month, but is also short one employee.

"This is my seventh budget," Smith said, "and we're not going to come into a windfall of money."

He presented members of the council with sales tax figures from City and Town magazine, showing what Gurdon would have received if the city could keep any of the countywide sale tax monies. The figure was $19,079 for January.

Arkadelphia, he pointed out, would have received $84,542, while Whelen Springs would have received $979.

This money, in fact, is sent from the state to the cities within the county. The cities, though, have to turn these funds over to the county, and go into the county general budget.

The reason this is done in this manner stems from the time the county was in dire financial straights some 12 years ago. At this time, the county asked the citizens to pass a one-cent sales tax, then asked the municipalities to give up their part.

Smith said several of the mayors and their councils were under the impression they would get their part of the tax once the county got back on its feet financially.

This didn't happen.

Instead, the county government has kept this money, while the cities and towns within Clark County are now having financial problems.

Two years ago Smith met with other mayors throughout the county, and all agreed, at the time, they could use their part of the tax money.

Arkadelphia challenged the county's right to these funds and put the money into an escrow account. The county sued successfully and got the money back.

"I feel the people of Clark County have been hoodwinked," Smith said. "We can do nothing, or we can meet with the Clark County Quorum Court and see if we can come up with a compromise.

"It will have to be approved by the voters as it should be."

Actually, in order for the cities to receive any of these funds, the tax will first have to be removed, then voted in again without the current statute.

Smith said Clark County has a good county judge and sheriff, but added most of the people in the county live inside cities or towns.

"I think the county has too much money," he continued. "When they can buy equipment the way they do and pay cash, while we have to scrape to buy two-year-old police cars something's wrong."

Returning to the topic of the Y2k budget, Smith said it was hard to work on because of fears the city would be losing some of its sales tax revenues because of the new Wal-Mart Supercenter in Arkadelphia.

"I feel I have vision," Smith said, "and it's helped me with my job as mayor.

"In the '80s Clark County was hurting bad, plants were closing, unemployment was high, but we all pulled together to help the county.

"It's time we educate the voters and let them make a decision; to give them the facts."

Smith's vision is for the county to continue to prosper, as "I see a lot of good things coming," he said.

Arkadelphia, he added, is planning on seeking a five-year one-cent sales tax to build a sports complex and public swimming pool.

But the city could have problems maintaining the complex and pool after the tax is removed.

Smith said Gurdon would receive about $230,000 a year as its portion of the county tax.

With this money, he added, the city could give the GPD more funds, give the city employees a raise and offer a retirement plan.

In addition, the city's streets would be in better condition.

"A lot could be done with this money," Smith said.

It costs about $54,000 per mile to asphalt a road, he said, adding Arkadelphia's streets are in about the same condition Gurdon's are in.

"They need this money, too. It could help all departments in the city. We don't want to hurt the county financially. All the cities could take 60 percent of what they would receive and let the county have the rest."

Smith said the county could pass an ordinance on the issue, or residents could circulate petitions on the tax measure. It would require signatures from 15 percent of those who voted in the last presidential election before the petition would be valid.

Gurdon, he said, pays $22 per inmate per day to house prisoners in the Clark County jail. The city also pays a per capita portion for the municipal court system.

"The county has the best of both worlds. It's paid for all the county services and gets to keep all the tax money," he said.

Smith will work to set up a meeting with County Judge Floyd "Buddy" Manning and the quorum court to discuss the measure.