By MARCUS McCLAIN
NEA Town Courier
The Blytheville Parks and Recreation Committee sent a $150,000 request from the National Cold War Center board to the finance department during their Aug. 8 meeting.
Board members Billy Curl, Michael Jacques and Liz Smith detailed their desire for support from the city in bringing the museum to life. The museum’s board is working to raise funds in order to maximize a $1.9 million matching grant through the governor’s office. If the board can raise that amount themselves, the governor’s office will match it, bringing $3.8 million in funding for the museum.
As the discussion continued, funds from the City Advertisement and Tourism Promotions Commission became a supplemental topic. City finance director John Callens noted that the city budgeted $40,000 in ‘21 and ‘$35,000 of this year for museum development. However, under law, CATPC can not be used directly for the construction of any physical structure. Budgeted funds are not required to be used, but Smith also noted that no funds from this commission, or the city in general, have been contributed this calendar year.
“In 2021, I think there was maybe $20,000 contributed, but nothing in 2022,” Smith said. “The CATPC can give limited funds depending on the museum’s needs. For example, it can contribute to a [specific] event. That’s why this request was separate and to complete the trifecta of county, state and city.”
Seeking ways to contribute, city officials also discussed the potential of raising restaurant and/or hotel taxes. If done, Callens detailed that the funds would be collected through the city and kept in a separate fund for the CATPC.
“The collection process would be much more difficult because there’s lots more entities that cook food. We would probably need to hire more code enforcement to do this,” Callens said. “To keep up with who's paying it, we’d have a list of businesses who serve cooked food and compare it to that list to find who’s not. Then we’d have the city collector and code enforcement take whatever means necessary to go through the collection process.”
In taking this route, councilwoman Barbara McAdoo-Brothers presented a separate issue of residents selling foods out of their home. “We have quite a few that cook out of their homes, so how would they be held accountable to carry the tax in the same way as storefronts? I don’t understand why we, as business people, should pay it if there is no way to tax them,” McAdoo-Brothers said.
Prior to Monday’s meeting, the committee had yet to meet with the CATPC but are seeking a meeting on Tuesday, Aug, 16 prior to the regular council meeting.
Councilman Matt Perrin noted, “[The museum board] have been granted a significant amount of money from the county, industry and [potentially] the governor. We are being asked to give significantly less than any of those three sectors. I’d be willing to look at a one-time gift before I’m willing to look at raising any of these taxes.”
“If we meet with the CAPTC and they make a recommendation that [raising the tax] is the right move, then we can look at that, but otherwise, I would advise against it,” Perrin later added.
Curl and Jacques noted their request never included any desire to raise city taxes for museum funds. It was also added that the donation could be spread over a three year period.
“We asked the mayor about a commitment for a $150,000 donation and at the time he wasn’t sure the city could do it because of other issues within the city,” Curl said. “We’ve listened to what other proposals could be [concerning taxes], but we don’t support it. Our request would be $150,000 to the museum out of the general fund.”