For the second year
in a row the City of Alexander council accepted Mayor Paul Mitchell’s
proposal to reduce the city’s real and personal property tax. The
property tax for 2018, to be collected in 2019, will be 1.5-percent,
or 0.0015-mills.
For as long as
anyone can remember the city’s property tax has been five-percent
(0.005-mills), which is the state’s starting maximum, unless it’s
raised by a vote of city residents. In 2017 council members agreed to
lower it to three-percent (0.003-mills) in anticipation of the
passage of a one-cent sales tax in a November 2017 special election.
The three-percent was levied for the 2017 tax year collected in 2018.
The sales tax passed
and the first payment for it from the state treasurer arrived this
month. Collection of the new sales tax began April 1. Alexander’s
total city sales and use tax is three-cents.
Based on what he was
told by the Saline County Collector Mitchell said this will give
Alexander the lowest property tax in Saline County. Bryant was the
lowest at its current 1.9-percent.
Mitchell reminded
council members that lowering the property tax was one way the city
can “give back” to city residents for passing the sales tax.
Also, having a low property tax can be used as an enticement to
attract business development. He added that he expects next year to,
“halve the property tax again.”
Present at the July
meeting and voting “For” the lower property tax were Dan Church,
Joy Gray, Joe Pollard, Harold Timmerman, and Juanita Wilson. Absent
were Elizabeth Bland, Melissa Ratliff and Jeff Watson.
In other action
during the July 16 meeting;
Council
members approved spending an estimated $20,000 for two new pavilions
to be placed near the playground in the city park. Mayor Paul
Mitchell told council members there’s no place for parents to sit
while watching their children play. Mitchell said they currently sit
on a small wall surrounding the playground and he knows, “It’s
not comfortable.” The pavilions will be similar to the two already
in the park.
Several local
residents are working towards forming an American Legion Post in
Alexander. Mitchell asked the council if they may use the community
center without a fee until such time they are able to firmly
establish the post. Council members agreed.
Mitchell
asked council members to consider allowing Alexander to become a
class-1 city. Alexander requested to be returned to class-2 status in
2012 after automatically becoming class-1.
After the 2010
census count was completed for the City of Alexander, the tally
showed a new population number of 2,901. Before the annexation of
Woodland Hills in 2006 Alexander's population was only 610.
Under state law it
takes a population of 2,500 for a Class-2 city to move up to Class-1.
And, according to the Arkansas Attorney General's office the move is
automatic after the census figures are released.
Mitchell opined that
some of the reasoning for the request to return to class-2 was the
changes class-1 status requires. On the cost side class-1 cities must
provide benefits such as health insurance and retirement.
“We have that
covered now,” he said.
Other changes are
how the city will function as a governmental body. The recorder
position will be replaced by a city clerk, which will be an elected
position. The city attorney, which is now a contract for services
position, will also have to be elected. Currently petitions for
elected positions only require 10 signatures. As a class-1 city 30
signatures will be needed.
Mitchell said he
wasn’t asking for a decision now. He does want council members to
think about it.
Near the end
of the meeting, with no objections from council members, Mitchell
appointed city resident Tonya Prowse to the Alexander Planning
Commission. This brings the membership up to four, leaving one more
vacancy. Prowse has attended several city council meetings recently
before deciding to accept the position.
The next regular meeting of the Alexander City Council is
Monday, August 20. Meetings start at 6 PM and are held in the
courtroom at the City of Alexander City Hall. The public is invited
to attend.
