UPDATE: City talks new tax

Blytheville voters will likely see a ballot issue in the November general election requesting an additional one cent sales tax for the city, in spite of the fact that a similar issue in a special election was soundly defeated last year.

City Council finance chair Stan Parks told the finance committee Wednesday afternoon that he felt the city made some mistakes in its attempt to pass the failed tax, and that with some changes the citizens may get behind this new effort.

Discussions leaned in the direction of the need for a new tax after both Police Chief Ross Thompson and Fire Chief Mike Carney made presentations to the committee regarding their desperate need for higher pay within their departments. Both chiefs expressed frustration that they cannot retain well-trained employees, who regularly leave for jobs in higher paying departments nearby.

Thompson and Carney both brought numbers from the Municipal League showing average and minimum base pay for other cities in Arkansas with a population of 10,000 - 20,000, and showed that Blytheville falls far beneath even the low end of the state's median.

For example, a Captain with the Blytheville Fire Department is paid $34,709, but the average pay for a city of Blytheville's size elsewhere in the state is $44,851.

In the Police Department, Thompson said that the city needs 50 officers to be able to form special units, maintain control, and fight crime in a way that would actually reduce the rates. The department is currently budgeted for 39 officers, but cannot keep even that many positions filled due to turnover because of low pay.

"If we're going to reduce crime, we have to be able to pay to keep our well-trained officers and not lose them to surrounding cities, and we have to increase the number of officers," he said. "The more officers we have, the more we can respond with specialized units that we know are effective...right now, our guys are coming in with extremely high overtime, and I'm worried about burnout."

To make up the salary differences both chiefs are requesting, the city would need an additional $1.6 million in next year's budget. These numbers turned discussions to the need for a "public safety" tax.

Councilman John Musgraves said that he would ask the Mayor to begin prepping numbers and prepare for possible public forums to get the voters' input on how to address the situation. He added that he felt a ten year sunset should be discussed, which would be long enough to effect change.

In other finance news, Callens told the committee that Thunder Bayou will need a transfer of approximately $54,000 from the city general fund in order to remain funded and have a balanced budget through December.

He added that all city departments are on proper schedule with their budgets for this point in the year. Parks said that the police department is a bit under budget, but this is due to their being understaffed, which he said was "not a good kind of savings." The department currently is staffed with 35 officers, but according to Thompson's report, there are only 29 officers currently available due to necessary training and medical leave absences.

sspears@blythevillecourier.com