Matthew Moore: This March, voters in Fayetteville will see nine bond measures on their ballot. The measures range from water and sewer improvements to an aquatics recreation center, and one political action committee is working to ensure all nine measures pass.
George Shelton is the co-chair of the Build Fayetteville’s Future 2026 campaign. These measures Shelton is advocating for would continue a 1% sales tax to provide Fayetteville with $335 million in new funding. He says he worked on a similar project in 2019.
George Shelton: One of the things that I found, one of the things I truly believe is that if you live in Fayetteville, you have every right to fully know and understand what’s on your ballot. I think it’s important that campaigns like this, they have a responsibility to reach out to voters and explain to them what’s going to be on the ballot, to explain to them how the city is going to change as a result of their vote, and give them the information they need to confidently cast a vote this time, March 3.
Moore: This organization, this campaign that you are a part of, you are in favor of these bond measures. There’s several different ones. People can vote, kind of line item yes or no on them. You are in favor of all of them?
Shelton: Yes, yeah I am. There are nine questions. And I think it’s really important to look at this as a holistic approach to building a better future for our city. Each one builds on top of the other to provide both infrastructure and improvements, and amenities that will prepare our city to have a brighter future for decades to come.
Moore: There are typically two main ways to pay for the kinds of things that this bond measure hopes to do. One is through raising taxes. Another is through a bond measure that’s more short term, more concentrated, some may argue effective because it’s a very direct result of here’s that money and here’s what it’s going to. Why do you think a bond measure is more effective than a tax?
Shelton: Well, I think what’s really important to say is, if we vote for all nine of these bonds, it doesn’t raise taxes. It continues a one-cent sales tax. The state of Arkansas affords cities and municipalities the ability to fund infrastructure projects through a one-cent sales tax.
I was fortunate to work on the one in 2019, which created an arts corridor downtown and the Ramble, and brought in a new police training center and a number of things that have really helped the city grow to the point where we are. If we don’t pass these now, we run the risk of potentially losing that one-cent sales tax and losing the ability to come back and fund infrastructure in the future without being able to accurately say, importantly, we can do all these things without raising taxes.
Moore: One of the things that I’ve heard the mayor herself say about this tax that is currently in place, essentially this would be a continuation of that 1% sales tax, is that it takes some of the onus off of only residents of Fayetteville because that tax is paid by anyone who buys things within Fayetteville. So visitors who are coming for football games, basketball games, come to the Walton Arts Center to enjoy a play. Those people are also paying that tax.
Shelton: Correct. She's absolutely correct about that. One of the things that I think helps this city move forward is how many people come back to visit, how many people go to college here and help build this community and then come back throughout their lifetimes. They are beneficiaries of the infrastructure improvements that are made in Fayetteville. And I think it’s appropriate for them to pay their fair share of that.
Moore: Fayetteville recently became the second-largest city in Arkansas. I think it was probably a long time coming. When you think about everything that happens here in the city. Do you think that also plays a role in why it’s important to have these bond measures go through now?
Shelton: I think Fayetteville is a really special place. This is the third time in my life in which I’ve had the good fortune to live in Fayetteville. The challenge with creating a community like this that is so diverse and so beautiful and such an economic hub is that other people want to come enjoy that, too. We don’t really have the opportunity to say, OK, that’s it, no more growth.
What we do have the opportunity to do is to plan for it and to be prepared for it. And that’s part of what I think this campaign is about, is helping people understand how important it is that we plan for the future, and how all nine of these bonds build upon each other to create a better future for all of us.
Moore: We don't have the time to go through all nine of these. I think that would be a bit laborious, but let's talk about maybe some of the ones that you have heard the most feedback on, some of the ones that have been the most contentious in conversations you've had with residents.
Shelton: Well again, I want to hearken back to 2019. The hardest one to get past that year and the one that was closest in vote was the Arts Corridor and the Ramble. And I think now looking back on that seven years later, everyone looks at that part of town as a point of pride.
To me, the most important one is the first one. We need to vote for the first one, because if we don't, that's the one in which we refinance the bonds. If that one doesn't pass, none of the others matter. So that is the one that I've heard the mayor talk about this, it's something I talk about. The first one is the most important. Beyond that, all of them are equally important because each one is a building block to a better future.
Moore: You seem to be pretty much in lockstep with the mayor when it comes to passing these. Where do you see some separation between you as a resident, bringing forward this committee and being a city employee proposing and endorsing these?
Shelton: To be 100% clear, I’m not a city employee. I’m a volunteer, and I do this because, and I've done it for multiple such projects in the past, because I love Fayetteville. Just like everyone else who's had the opportunity to live here. I don't see a whole lot of separation, because I look at these projects and see how they all work together and how important they are all to pass, so that we've got the infrastructure improvements to build more housing, to to drive down housing costs. To provide recreational space year round, to maintain our trails and parks.
And one of the things that I think people just love about Fayetteville that you don't really think about is you can get pretty much anywhere in about 15 minutes, except on a football game Friday. Sometimes it takes a little longer, but that's not always going to be the case if we don't plan for it. One of the things that I love about being here is knowing I'm not going to have to spend half my day in the car, just running errands. And I think passing our roads and infrastructure, that's going to be equally important as well.
Moore: One of the things that I have seen, probably the most vocal pushback on is the aquatic center that's been proposed at Lewis Park. I'm sure you've heard from residents on that.
Shelton: I have. And I want to push back gently, a site has not been voted on by the city council. I grew up, my father worked with John Lewis. I view Lewis Park as a monument to someone who helped Fayetteville become what it is. And I think Lewis Park has an incredible future, whether there's an aquatic center there or not.
One thing I do know is that Fayetteville currently doesn't have any indoor recreation space that's open year round to the entire community. There's the Yvonne Richardson Center, which is largely for kids, but not really large enough to fit all the kids. The Fayetteville Athletic Center is a phenomenal facility, but it's not available to everyone, same with the Boys and Girls Club. When you look at an aquatic center, it is something that we are trying to build that other communities around us have. But if you've ever had a child that went to Fayetteville High and wanted to be on the swim team or the dive team, you understand the frustration of going to the HYPER building at the university to practice.
If you have a young family and you're teaching them to swim, you don't have the opportunity to do that year round. And I've talked with parents who have mentioned that when you have a young child who only has access to a public pool two and a half months a year, they can forget how to swim in the winter. And so that puts them in danger of when they do come back in the summer and the pools are open again, not really having the same muscle memory, to learn to swim.
It's not just for children, either. My mother is 84, and fortunately, she has access to water aerobics and a number of other things that help keep her fit and young. But not everybody has access to that in Fayetteville. That's one of the reasons we need an aquatic center that is built in such a way so that it's self-sustaining, so that the taxpayers don't have to come back and pay for upkeep and pay for maintenance out of the general fund. We want an aquatic center. We want to build something that people are going to view as a point of pride in the community that they want to go to, and can enjoy an affordable amenity with their entire family.
Moore: Some may push back against that and say, there's a Jones Center in Springdale. There's there's other opportunities outside of Fayetteville for people to do that. Why do you think it's so important to have it here?
Shelton: Well, I think the Jones Center is an example of something that I like to talk about. There are communities that surround Fayetteville that have people who can afford to just pay out of their own pocket for really nice amenities or a full water and sewer project in Bentonville. In Fayetteville, we don't have that. That's not to say that we wouldn't accept their support if we could get it, but in Fayetteville, we have to do it for ourselves. And that's part of what I love about this community, is that we own our own progress through voting. Through these bonds, we get to own a brighter future that we have built for ourselves in Fayetteville.
Moore: Obviously, success in this is all nine of these getting a yes vote and moving forward. Do you worry about the consequences of one or more of these not passing?
Shelton: I don't want to say that I'm worried about it. What I am focused on is making sure that everybody knows how these things are going to make a brighter future. Whether it is the new fire station, whether it is a new animal shelter, all of these things build upon each other so that it creates what we want our community to be.
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