White County Sales Tax Increase Special Election

Sneaking up on residents of Searcy Ward 2 (and all of White County) is the special election on September 13, 2011, for the sales tax increase to help fund the Searcy bypass. In fact, early voting began today at the White County Clerk's office in Searcy, AR. The White County Clerk's office hours are 8 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. Monday through Friday.

The exact times for early voting are not available on the White County Clerk's Web site, so you may want to call ahead (501-279-6204). Not only is there no information about early voting on the tax available on the White County Web site, the election isn't mentioned there at all.

Supporters of the tax have an online presence, but they have not chosen to share information about the times for voting or the details of the tax proposal. The only copy of the tax ordinace we could find was on BypasstheBypassTax.com, a Web site sponsored by Citizens for Responsible Taxation who oppose the tax. The sales tax increase would be 1 percent on any sales tax eligible purchases in White County for 21 months. If it passes, the money we pay would be distributed to the cities and the county based on population with 87.5 percent of the funds to be spent on road, bridge, and drainage repairs and 12.5 percent to be spent on "economic development," which includes many things and is intended to "stimulate the local economy." You can read the proposal yourself HERE.

Whether you are for or against the Searcy bypass or our White County government increasing our taxes for 21 months, make sure you early vote starting September 6 or vote on election day September 13.