Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Mayor pushes sales tax for streets

Gurdon voters will be asked to go to the polls on June 29 to approve a 3/4 cent sales tax for a repaving project in the city. The current interest rates and the fact the cost could be paid off in eight years make this a good time to consider the project.

Those were the words of Gurdon Mayor Clayton Franklin as he addressed the Gurdon Rotary Club Thursday, May 27. Franklin was the club's guest speaker and he talked about the special election.

The city is proposing a project with a total price tag of between $600,000 and $650,000 to repave 15 to 16 miles of city streets. If voters approve the sales tax, the city will issue bonds to raise the money to do the project. Franklin said work could begin as soon as September.

With the current interest rates, the total project would be paid off in about eight years. At that time, the tax would no longer be collected.

"Interest rates right now are as low as I've ever seen them," Franklin said.

Franklin said it's important to understand the sales tax currently being collected by the city. There are two separate taxes on the books  a one-cent sales tax and a =-cent sales tax, each for the city's general operating fund. In 2003, an additional =-cent tax reached maturity and is no longer being collected.

Another 1-cent tax collected county-wide is designated for the county and the cities in the county do not benefit from that money.

Franklin outlined his plan that includes repaving all streets that serve as entries into the city  Kansas Road, Smithton Road, Red Springs Road and Go-Devil Road have been at the top of his priority list. Other streets that have high-traffic areas are also among those priorities. But Franklin said that is only about 1/3 of the total project.

"I'm not talking about fixing potholes now," Franklin said. "I'm talking about a first-class repaving project." He said the city doesn't have the capability to handle a project of this size and would contract the job out.

He said the project has come directly from citizens' complaints.

"We try to listen to what people complain about," he said. "But we can't do anything but patch and fill potholes."

He called the tax "critical" if the people of Gurdon want better streets.

One of the biggest problems facing the city is the lack of revenue generated by sales tax.

"A lot of Gurdon people spend money in Arkadelphia," he said. "You pay sales tax up there to work on their streets. This would just be paying sales tax down here to work on ours."

Those who voiced an opinion following Franklin's speech said they favor the project.

Franklin said he plans to address other groups over the coming weeks to explain the project and answer questions. He left the club with a word of advice for the members.

"If you're interested in streets, help pass the word."