A second attempt to extend the five-eights cent sales tax approved by voters in 2017, the so-called Go Forward Pine Bluff tax will be voted on in November.
During a special called meeting of the City Council’s Ways and Means Committee Wednesday morning, Council members Glen Brown Jr., and Lloyd Holcomb Jr., voted to recommend that the tax be approved and also voted to call a special election in November on the issue.
The committee also recommended that a three-eights cent tax for public safety be approved and placed on a special election ballot.
If approved, the five-eights cent tax would be extended for seven years while the three-eights cent tax would be permanent.
During the meeting, Brown said the proposed ordinances will be read one time each at three separate meetings of the council to allow for public comment and questions.
A resolution calling for a forensic audit of all the money collected and spent since the tax was adopted was attached to a link to the committee meeting Wednesday.
That resolution provided that “all citizens who advocated for the adoption of the tax and the promised benefits it was to generate are entitled to full transparency and accounting for the expenditure of public tax dollars as part of the ‘public-private part partnership’ between the City and Go Forward PineBluff entity.”
The resolution went on to say that “fundamental questions regarding how the tax funds have bene spent must be answered to allay public concern, concern which has grown by the discovery of the diversion of funds from the Urban Renewal Agency.”
It called for an independent party to audit all the records of receipts and expenditures since the that was initially collected to July 1 of this year.
The audit is to begin not later than 30 days after the resolution is approved.
