Get ready to spend more in the coming days.
Starting Monday, patrons will pay 10.75 percent on items they buy at Blytheville businesses. The new statewide, half-cent Amendment 1 tax will not be collected on groceries or medicine, however.
The "temporary" (10-year) tax will fund highway projects across the state, along with providing turnback revenue to cities and counties to be used for local road and street projects.
Since last July, local residents have paid a total tax rate of 10.25 percent; Blytheville's 15-month, 1-cent IRS tax falls off in the fall, unless city leaders call for a special election to remove the 1-cent tax early.
Blytheville patrons have been burdened with one of the highest tax rates in the state for the last several months. Mississippi County has one of the steepest rates in Arkansas -- 2 percent -- and the temporary 1-cent tax has pushed the city of Blytheville's to the top tier as well at 2.25 percent. Only 18 of the 296 Arkansas cities/towns have a higher tax rate than Blytheville's, according to April-June 2013 figures from the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Reportedly, only nine of the 75 counties have higher sales tax rate than Mississippi County's with 13 others also at 2 percent.
Now the state is going up another 1/2 percent to 6.5 percent, lightening our wallets even more.
Some local companies have lamented that the high sales tax rate is hurting their business. They contend folks are shopping elsewhere, at places in Kennett, Dyersburg, Jonesboro and surrounding cities with lower tax rates. They say they are losing business because of something beyond their control.
That should be even more incentive for city leaders to end the 1-cent tax early. The IRS tax is on pace to pay off two months early and provide a surplus of some $460,000 -- money that will end up being used for regular payroll taxes, not just the delinquent ones as intended by the voters.
It seems only fair to give patrons a chance to end it early with a special election.
Once the total sales tax rate drops back below 10 percent, it should encourage folks to spend their money locally.
Yes, the 1-cent tax was needed to pay off the IRS debt, but once that obligation is satisfied, the tax should end.
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Switching gears, I can't imagine how nerve-racking it was for the family of Nik Wallenda as he walked without a safety net or harness, 1,500 feet above the Little Colorado River Gorge in northeastern Arizona.
All this with millions watching on live television.
One slip would have been deadly; fortunately, he made it safely to the other side.
Admittedly, my eyes were glued to the screen the full 22 minutes he was on the steel cable. As nervous I was watching, I can't imagine what he was feeling as he tightroped across the area near the Grand Canyon.
"It was strenuous the whole way across. It was a battle. The winds were strong, they were gusty," he told reporters. "But there was never a point where I thought, 'oh my gosh, I'm going to fall.'"
With each steady step, Wallenda offered up prayers that were thankfully answered.
It was gripping TV, to say the least. I get butterflies just nearing the edge of a tall structure; I can't imagine tightroping a cable across the Grand Canyon.
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It has been a difficult start to the summer for several local families.
In the last week, the community has mourned the losses of three members of a Gosnell family, including a 2-year-old, from an accident on Interstate 55 near Marion, and the death of a Blytheville man following a wreck on Cherry Street. An Indiana motorcyclist also lost his life on Sunday about 33 miles down the road, on 1-55 in New Madrid County, Mo.
Two weeks ago, a Caruthersville teenager perished in an accident near Hayti; a Holland woman lost her life in an accident in Greene County; and a Blytheville man died following a wreck on Highway 120 in Mississippi County .
Our thoughts and prayers are with all the families involved.
June has been the deadliest month on Arkansas roads this year. Of the 239 fatal wrecks thus far in 2013, 49 have been this month.
Be careful out there.
mbrasfield@blythevillecourier.com