By Ray King
Any hope that supporters of the so-called Go Forward Sales Tax would get another shot at voting for it in a special election in November were dashed by the Pine Bluff City Council Monday night.
In a meeting that lasted more than two-and-a-half hours, a proposed ordinance levying a five eights of one percent sales tax that several council members had planned to read three times failed by a vote of four to four.
Voting no to suspending the rules and reading the ordinance a second time were Council Members Steven Mays, Bruce Lockett, Glen Brown Sr., and LaTisha Brunson. Voting for a second reading were council members Lloyd Holcomb Jr., Glen Brown Jr., Steven Shaner and Lanette Frazier.
In order to get the tax on the November ballot, the paperwork has to be submitted to the state and to the election commission by Sept. 5.
A proposed three-eights cent tax for public safety was also read just once and even if both ordinances and the companion legislation calling for the special election are read twice more, it will still be past the deadline for an election this year without a special called city council meeting.
Lockett, Mays and Brunson are all members of the Development and Planning Committee who met last week to discuss the ordinance and voted to send it to the full council with a do not pass recommendation.
After the meeting, Lockett was asked about the vote.
Before the meeting, 15 people had signed up to speak, 13 of them either for or against the tax. That group included former Council member Irene Holcomb and former Dollarway School District Superintendent Thomas Gathers, who supported it, and former council members Joni Alexander Robinson and Ivan Whitfield, who opposed it.
State Representative Vivian Flowers also opposed the November election, saying that any tax proposals should be on the March primary election ballot. After the meeting, Flowers explained her position.
