Conway committee hears that changing sales-tax patterns are shrinking local receipts; chamber proposes median-rate package for public safety, streets and arts

Jamie Gates, with the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce, told a Conway City committee that regional changes in where people shop and visit have put downward pressure on Conway’s local sales-tax collections and that a higher local rate could fund public safety vehicles, street maintenance and new arts and tourism amenities.

Gates said the city’s sales tax “is the one that that moves, and it's the one that that drives city government, and the way cities look and feel.” He told the committee Conway ranks near the bottom among Arkansas’ 20 largest cities on local sales-tax collections and property-tax levies and said the city has missed significant revenue after a 3/8-cent reduction enacted two years ago.

Why it matters: Gates and several business and arts leaders framed the question as a choices about competition and place-making, not short-term budgeting. They argued that a sales-tax increase to reach a median regional rate could create dedicated capital funds for police and fire apparatus, an ongoing street-maintenance fund, and pay for amenities such as a music pavilion, a Lake Conway boardwalk, a restored downtown…