BEEBE, Ark. — By a little more than 100 votes, voters in Beebe rejected a half-cent sales tax on Tuesday night, that would've been used to fund a new recreational complex.
However, they also passed a bond issue that would’ve been used to carry out the project, also by over 100 votes.
Beebe Assistant to the Mayor Harley Spears said with these results, the proposed complex won’t be built, because you can’t have one without the other.
"That'd be like encouraging your friend to go buy a home and take out a mortgage if they didn't have a job,” Spears described. “They have no way to support those bonds without that tax revenue."
Both Spears and Beebe City Councilman Matt Dugger said they believe many voters were confused at the polls. They explained how if voters understood the issue, the tax and bond either would’ve both passed or both failed.
“We believe now, looking back on it, [that] we should’ve been more explanatory to people that the bond doesn’t pass without the tax,” Dugger said. “Because you need the bond to fund the tax.”
"I think there might have been a little confusion on voting either for both issues or against both issues,” Spears said. “Because they kind of go hand in hand. You can't do much with bonds without the tax and vice versa."
AnnaMarie Sullivan is one Beebe resident who supported the tax and the softball fields, walking tracks, pickleball courts, and other things it could've brought to the town.
“We live close to Cabot on one end. And then to the north of us, we've got Searcy. But there's not a lot of restaurants here right now. There are not a lot of parks here, not a lot of things for kids to do," she explained. "And so most of us travel to those other cities for those things, so we're already paying that tax, so why not pay it here?”
However, she acknowledges that there may be some who are skeptical of city leadership and those who could’ve been convinced may have just been confused.
"I don't think there was enough education on this tax proposal,” Sullivan said. “And I think that was made evident by the fact that the bond passed, but the tax didn't."
Spears said as far as she knows, the city doesn’t have any plans to push for another tax anytime soon despite the close result. However, she also said there are other things that could bring money into Beebe and ultimately improve the city, even without the facility.
“We don't give up. Instead of focusing on what didn't work, we're focusing on what is working. We just celebrated the dedication of Interstate 57 yesterday, and the city owns about 100 acres that front that new interstate," she expressed. "So we're really excited about marketing that to commercial developers. That'll bring more revenue into our city and give us more opportunity to improve things in all departments, including within our parks.”
More information on the Interstate 57 project, which will connect cities like Beebe to places as far north as Chicago, can be found by clicking here.