story by Aric Mitchell, special to The City Wire
Sam Sicard, president and CEO of Fort Smith-based First Bank Corp., is undeterred by Fort Smith voters’ recent no-go on diverting street tax funds to the city’s trails and greenways system. For him and Hanna Oil and Gas president Bill Hanna, it’s simply about getting new trails built.
The pair recently proposed a funding mechanism to the city of Fort Smith that could see as much as $7 million poured into the city’s parks and trails system in 2016 and 2017. Around $3 million of that would come via First National Bank loan at 0% interest, to be paid back out of future tax revenues. Sicard also plans to raise $3 million from the private sector, while the remaining $1 million would come from “matching grant opportunities for both trails and/or parks projects,” he recently told The City Wire.
This plan would enable the city to lock in cheaper rates on labor and building materials and start building new trails sooner rather than later. The city's portion of immediate and future funding for the trails comes from a sales tax plan that voters approved in 2012, and not from the city's general fund.
Originally, Sicard and Hanna were asking the city to up its capital improvement plan (CIP) commitment to $6 million for 2016-2020. While the Parks Commission voted instead to raise the amount from $3.1 million (2015-2019 CIP) to just $5.2 million, it was close enough for Sicard to say the Parks Commission “pretty much gave us what we wanted.” The vote was unanimous and took place at a special called meeting of the Commission on July 8. They also voted to make Wilson Park a major priority for 2019.
“This [plan] needs to be approved by the City Directors, and we are advocating that they support it,” Sicard said. “In addition, we are pursuing a goal of raising $3 million in private donations to fund trails in our city. We are just beginning this process, but are optimistic we can achieve this over time.”
Aaron Lee, administration secretary for the Fort Smith Parks and Recreation Department, confirmed the Commission had voted to approve the above changes unanimously at the July 8 meeting. She also noted that a joint meeting to discuss this plan would be held between the Parks Commission and the Fort Smith Board of Directors “probably in August” before it comes up for a final vote at the city’s budget meetings at the end of 2015.
On May 12, Fort Smith voters rejected a plan to divert 5% of the street tax revenue for construction of a 35-mile multi-use trail system. Final results showed that 6,267 votes were cast, with 55.69% voting against the plan in spite of widespread support from the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Fort Smith Regional Council, and Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders.
Sanders, immediately following the election results, told The City Wire he was “disappointed that we failed to take advantage of the opportunity ... to improve our economic development capabilities and provide a service” for the younger demographic that the city and region needs to retain and recruit.
Opponents like Jerry Fleming, chairman and spokesman of the “Save Our Streets in Fort Smith” committee, emphasized that they were not against a plan to fund trails and greenways further, but found diverting the money from the street tax to be irresponsible. Voters ultimately agreed.