Jefferson County voters will not go to the polls in August to decide on a 0.5% sales tax that will finance economic development in the southern Arkansas county.
The quorum court last week set the election on a 7-to-6 vote over the objections of Pine Bluff Mayor Carl Redus and other city leaders. County Judge Mike Holcomb cast the deciding vote, but under Arkansas law Holcomb is the county’s chief executive officer and not a member of the legislative body.
Holcomb said he realized the mistake almost immediately. State law allows mayors to break tie votes, but not county judges.
The tax was expected to generate $45 million over 10 years for work-force training and economic incentives to recruit industry to the area. The tax would have been in addition to the state’s 6% sales tax, Pine Bluff’s 1% sales tax, and the county’s 1.5% sales tax.
Lou Ann Nisbett, president and chief executive officer of the Jefferson County Economic Development Alliance, said the tax would have added about $7 a month to the expenses of a household with an annual income of $30,000.
Nisbett said her organization will try to collect the 2,587 signatures needed to bring the tax increase to a public vote after county officials declined to reconsider the request for an election.
The county has lost at least 14 industries in the past decade. Pine Bluff’s population was 57,140 in 1990, but slipped to 51,578 by 2006.
