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.