LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — After months of discussion, Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. officially presented his sales tax proposal to the board of directors.
Scott hopes for their approval so it will be on the November ballot for voters. However, the board decided not to sign off yet.
While Scott was prepared to vote Tuesday night, some directors said they had reservations and wanted to see a few changes before making that final decision.
"We have now started the clock hopefully to get toward November 5th," Scott said.
The countdown is on for the mayor as he pushes for a vote from directors on his sales tax proposal.
The meeting began as Scott announced a new addition to the sales tax proposal. Directors Dean Kempuris and Antwan Phillips have worked with the mayor to include a contingency fund of up to $2 million.
"To help have dollars in a reserve in the event for whatever reason cost overruns, things of that nature, unforeseen circumstances that those dollars in the contingency fund will go to help the projects we committed to the residents," Scott said.
There was some hesitation in getting the vote right now. Some of the directors were not in attendance for this meeting, and some, including Vice Mayor Kathy Webb, still want to make changes to the proposal.
Webb said she would get those amendments submitted so the resolutions related to the sales tax were put on the agenda and had a first read.
Scott will call a special meeting at 4 p.m. on July 30 to discuss and possibly vote on the sales tax proposal. We will be there with the latest updates.