Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Education And More Hurt If Property Tax Axed (cont)

l be eliminated. Teachers would have to be terminated.

Arkansas could wind up with only 10 or 15 school districts statewide, Ross said.

However, the loss of education wouldn't be the only negative aspect facing the state if the issue passes. Ross said we wouldn't be able to attract new business and industry to Arkansas, which would hamper the state's economic development efforts.

The money, he said, wouldn't be there to recruit industry, and few industries would want to locate in a state which would have the educational problems Arkansas would face.

"This would be like putting a sign up saying we don't want industry in Arkansas," Ross said. "The entire economy of the state would suffer. We won't be able to compete."

Additionally, Ross said, the legislature will be looking at removing the sales tax on food items during the 1999 session. But, if the property tax is removed, this can't be done.

Area educators also oppose the measure. Dr. Gene Ross, superintendent of the Emmet School District, said it would do away with local revenue for school districts, replacing it with state money.

Control of the schools, he said, would then be in the state's hands and not under local boards. "I'm concerned about it. It could put a stop to building (for schools). I heard it will be challenged in court."

Ron Wright, superintendent of the Prescott district, said if it passes it could be devastating for a lot of people and not just schools.

Those hired to do economic development, he said, are primarily paid through county funds and there would be no way to pay them for doing their job.

"We'd be shooting ourselves in the foot," Wright said. "I understand there are inequities in the property tax system in Arkansas, and there have been big increases in these taxes in Northwest Arkansas. But this is an indicator of how well they're doing there with their economy. It's made their property more valuable."

Arkansas, Wright said, ranks 47th in property taxes nationwide.

The burden of taxation will fall to the shoulders of the people instead of elected officials. People, he said, don't like taxes and will be less likely to approve them.

The loss of property taxes, Wright continued, would mean the closing of libraries and loss of other services, such as police and fire protection as cities and counties would have to cut back because of budgetary problems.

"Industry wants an educated workforce," he said, "and this would hamstring us in providing the type of worker industry needs.

"People don't realize we would have to vote on taxes every two years, and no one can bail us out."

In Prescott, Wright said, the district would lose 1/3 of its staff and all of the extracurricular activities. The students would suffer and class sizes would increase.

"What we'd lose wouldn't be a good tradeoff," he said. "The state would have to pay off bonds for school districts, but this money would come from funds earmarked for education and we'd be punished again.

"We must pay for the services we receive. Schools couldn't sell bonds to upgrade their facilities."

With education and economics suffering, he said, the state could be forced into spending even more on prisons because the crime rate would escalate.

The dropout rate in schools would also rise dramatically, with these young people being unable to get jobs because they don't have the proper education. This, he said, could easily lead to increases in all criminal activity.

"People don't understand what they're asking for," Wright said. "There are some prices not worth paying."

This sentiment is echoed by Nevada Superintendent Rick McAffee.

McAffee said Nevada County would lose nearly $1 million for education, with Nevada being the big loser at more than $500,000.

This kind of loss at Nevada would mean the closing of the school as it amounts to about 1/6 of the school's $3 million budget. "It would be too much to recover from."

In the next legislative session, he said, the assembly will be considering doing away with the sales tax on food. This hasn't been figured in on the loss of property tax.

The end result, he said, could mean as much as 40 percent of the state's school districts being forced to close. The state would also have to assume the bonded indebtedness of school districts.

"It's not as easy and simple as the people in NWAR think," McAffee said. "It's a can of worms we don't want to open.

"It will hurt government, municipalities, counties and the highway department. If this passes it will be devastating to Arkansas."

McAffee said the vote will likely be close and people need to understand there won't be enough money and the legislature will have to come back with something to replace the loss of property tax revenue with.

It will also force consolidation as never before in the state, he continued.

"If we take these taxes out, we're opening something needing to be left alone. We're facing a crossroad in Arkansas. This would be devastating not only to education but our ability to attract and keep industry.

"Everyone will be affected. It will challenge all of us."