Say ‘no’ to Go Forward

In 2016, the promise of $20 million in private investment and transformative change motivated people to take a chance on the Go Forward Pine Bluff initiative. There was only a handful in opposition to the tax. Today, people are having second thoughts about the tax. Some say, “Go Forward was not what I thought it was,” or “Go Forward was a good idea at first, but not how they executed it.” There has to be a better way forward.

The Pine Branch of the NAACP recently voted to oppose the city’s new Go Forward tax proposals because it imposes an unfair, regressive tax and represents a failed public-private partnership.

As a former alderman and chief of police, I have witnessed the problems that occur when the mayor and city council relinquish their authority and public trust.

Various publicly funded projects raise eyebrows and questions:

■ $1.2 million acquisition of the convention center hotel (with taxpayer funds) without an inspection.

■ $558,000 acquisition of a dilapidated bingo hall (with taxpayer funds) that initially cost $58,000 without an appraisal — (and one signature).

■ $112,000 acquisition of the old Greyhound Bus terminal (with taxpayer funds) that initially cost $15,000 without an appraisal.

Additional list of projects promised by Go Forward that have not been delivered:

■ Loft Apartment at Third Avenue and Walnut Street.

■ Downtown eatery.

■ Downtown movie theater.

■ Kids Zone at The Pines mall.

■ Go kart track at the Admiral Benbow Inn.

■ Crown Plaza Hotel.

Our youth are being shot down in the streets. Yet, we are giving Go Forward millions of dollars to buy buildings instead of investing in public safety with the taxes we already are collecting. The new tax plan is worse than the first tax plan.

First, they convinced Pine Bluff residents to give Simmons/GFPB over $30 million dollars. But they failed to raise the $20 million in private sector investments and projects. Now they want even more, over $54 million.

The three-eighth-cent tax has not been defined on how it will be spent. Ultimately, an outside entity will say how much the public safety raises will be and what type of equipment police and fire can purchase. This tax will be disbursed by Go Forward and not the Council. The three-eighth-cent tax will become a permanent tax — one that has never been discussed at a Public Safety Committee meeting. No one has stated how much will be spent on the police department or the fire department. No one has said how much it is projected to raise.

The NAACP has traditionally opposed regressive sales taxes because they hit poor people the hardest. Poor people and households lacking financial assets do not benefit equally from economic development tax initiatives. The people that benefit the most from these taxes are the business/property owners, and the employees that work for the impacted industries. The people who benefit the least are low to moderate income people, the working poor and seniors on fixed incomes. This is why we say – Go Forward taxes the poor to benefit the rich! It’s simply an unfair tax.

They could have proposed other tax options. But they didn’t. They choose to impose an unfair tax on the residents of Pine Bluff.

You could tax the property that benefits from revitalization. Since the plan is a downtown revitalization plan, the people who will benefit most are downtown property owners. We could fund the tax based on future increased tax revenue from the downtown property owners. This is called tax increment financing. It takes the form of “Special Improvement Districts” (SIDs) or “Business Improvement Districts” (BIDs), etc. These are modern economic development tools. Urban Renewal Agencies were used in the 1960-70s following the riots. They fell out of favor because they were subject to abuse, which is what is happening now (no-bid or sole source contracts, discriminatory use of eminent domain, etc.) in Pine Bluff.

You could tax the people who make money from Pine Bluff. There are a lot of people who work in Pine Bluff but refuse to live here. Pine Bluff does not require that all city workers (across the board) live inside the city limits. These are some of the best jobs in the city. The same is true for university employees, many of whom live in Little Rock. We could impose a city-wide income tax to support economic development; this would place the burden on the working class, but they will also benefit from the economic growth.

You could tax the people who spend money in Pine Bluff. Poor and working-class people don’t have the opportunity to save or invest their money; they need their money to live. They also don’t have the option to spend their money in other retail areas like Little Rock. Therefore, taxing the people who spend money in Pine Bluff disproportionately impacts the poor, working class, and seniors on fixed incomes.

Pine Bluff is already the highest-taxed major city in the state — and more new taxes are already on the way. In addition, requests for a new millage for our schools and utility rate increases are coming later this year. Consequently, the Pine Bluff branch will host or co-host a series of townhall meetings and informational sessions in all four wards to educate the public about the effect of the proposed new taxes and to solicit better ideas and community input on how to improve the wards and our city.

In 2016, Simmons Foundation proposed the Go Forward Initiative and sales tax. A group of concerned citizens asked the city council to “table the tax” so that the people could create a genuine public-private partnership with actual transparency and accountability, which they called “a better way forward.”

Tommy May told the community leaders and city council no, Go Forward was take it or leave it. As the president of the Pine Bluff NAACP, I want the people of Pine Bluff to know that we don’t have to “just take it” anymore. Regarding politics and taxes, you are either at the table or you are on the menu. Go Forward never offered or allowed the community a seat at the table. There IS a better way forward.

We just have to vote “no” on May 9.