Members of the Alexander Planning Commission, Citizens Advisory Committee and a handful of residents listened to Bernadette Rhodes, from Metroplan, describe key elements of the draft version of the city’s new Master Development Plan. When completed, the plan will be used as a guide for future development within the city. The current Master Development Plan was written in 1982.
Rhodes explained during the planning commission’s regular October 11 meeting how the draft plan, entitled On Track for a Better Tomorrow, was written. It’s based on information derived from the combination of a Planning Studies Report, a community survey and a public input meeting held June 11, 2022.
As stated in the plan, “This resulting comprehensive plan contains an analysis of current conditions, future projections, goals, and implementation strategies vetted by the public and city officials.”
As is always the case, funding becomes an issue in everything. When residents want more services, or you want to make improvements to attract more residents, which attracts more businesses, how to fund those improvements is always the big question. Rhodes highlighted a decision made in 2017, by both voters and the city council, as a plan that worked.
In 2017, the city council asked voters to approve a one-cent city sales-and-use tax for the general fund. The city already had a two-cent sales tax approved by voters in two separate elections in the early 2000s. The first referendum for a city one-cent sales tax designated the tax for the fire department. The second referendum for a one-cent sales tax designated 2/8ths of a cent for the parks and recreation department and the other 6/8ths divided between the fire department and police department. Traditionally, 1/8th of the 6/8ths has gone to the fire department and the remaining 5/8ths to the police department.
In his sales pitch to the council Mayor Paul Mitchell said the one-cent will generate enough revenue that the city could lower the property tax rate. So, as a good-faith gesture prior to the election, the council voted to cut the real estate and personal property tax for 2017 from the maximum 5-mills to 3-mills. The sales tax referendum passed in a November Special Election. In 2018 the property tax rate was reduced to 1.5 mills where it has remained.
A chart, provided in the draft Master Development Plan, shows how revenue from the reduced property tax rate has changed from 2016 to 2021.
Real Estate/Personal Property Tax Rates and Revenue
2016 - $87,594.73 (5-mills)
2017 - $89,641.25 (3-mills)
2018 - $60,287.43 (1.5-mills)
2019 - $62,083.67 (1.5-mills)
2020 - $39,356.90 (1.5-mills)
2021 - $39,340.85 (1.5-mills)
The plan also shows how the additional one-cent in sales tax increased revenue to the city. That one-cent brought in an extra $277,094 in 2018. Rhodes noted, that more than compensates for the loss in property tax revenue.
City Sales-and-Use Tax Revenue
2016 - $ 889,203 (2-cents)
2017 - $ 966,264 (2-cents)
2018 - $ 1,243,358 (3-cents)
2019 - $ 1,387,761 (3-cents)
2020 - $ 1,745,276 (3-cents)
2021 - $ 2,178,494 (3-cents)
2022 - $ 1,295,802 (3-cents) [through 07/22]
Another aspect of city life is police protection. It’s not easy to quantify in words whether one department is better than another. But certainly, how thin you spread officers within a population has some bearing on available protection and response time. The draft Master Development Plan compares Alexander to seven other cities based on the combined number of full time officers and auxiliary officers to the cities’ population number.
Alexander has one officer for every 199 residents. Where having a low number for once is good, this means Alexander has more officers per population than other area cities. The next closest city is Bryant with one officer for every 344 residents. See the chart below.
Ratio between number of officers and population
Alexander, 17 Officers - 3,385 – 1:199;
Bryant, 60 Officers - 20,663 – 1:344;
Shannon Hills, 13 Officers - 4,490 – 1:345;
Haskell, 11 Officers - 3,956 – 1:360;
North Little Rock, 175 Officers - 64,591 – 1:369;
Little Rock, 535 Officers - 202,591 – 1:379;
Benton, 77 Officers - 35,014 – 1:455;
Maumelle, 35 Officers - 19,251 – 1:550;
The next step is for city council members to read the draft plan and provide input. Council members will receive their copies of the draft Master Development Plan at the October 17 council meeting. It is expected the plan will be on the agenda for the November council meeting, giving council members enough time to evaluate the plan.
Once any changes or corrections are made that version of the plan will be made available to the public. A public hearing is expected to be scheduled for sometime in the first half of 2023 to receive additional input from the public. The final version must be approved by the planning commission and city council.
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