Baxter County Friends of the Taxpayers

MEETING NOTES

BAXTER COUNTY FRIENDS OF THE TAXPAYERS

SATURDAY, MAY 26, 2007

BCFT Director Frank Kaye called the meeting to order at 1:00 pm at Redeemer Lutheran Church.

Minutes of the previous meeting:  Approved as sent out with no corrections or additions.

Treasurer’s Report:  Treasurer Ken Blade gave the following report:  beginning balance was $907.86; deposits of $115 (dues & donations), withdrawals of $48.50 (room rental plus one roll of stamps), leaving a balance of $974.36.

Old Business:

Red-White-&-Blue Parade:  Chuck Barnes will arrange for truck and trailer again this year.  We will decorate the float the morning of June 29^th at Chuck’s house starting about 10 am.  Joanne volunteered to purchase candy; she will be reimbursed at the next meeting.  Parade route is the same as last time; we will meet behind Town & Country Grocery at 4:30 and will travel to the staging area on the float.

Airport:  Regarding the FOIA request made recently, Jim Bond reported that the airport manager, Jack Marchbank, has provided all records requested, with a couple of exceptions.  He also changed his mind and will allow any BCFT members to come to the next meeting.  He feels like a lot was accomplished and says that Mr. Marchbank will respond to members who wrote letters to him.

Jim and Frank said their prime concern was that the airport commission had found a way to circumvent the Quorum Court’s decision not to fund the construction of the hangar in question.  After doing the research, Frank is satisfied that taxpayer money is not being used at this time.  With their creative use of financing, the airport commission will be able to build the hangar with only $130,000 seed money (from a private investor), and the $300,000 they asked the QC for is still in an interest-bearing account. 

Mel asked how private money can be used to finance something on county property.  Frank said that it’s done through the terms of the lease – the person invests the money up front, then after 30 years it will be transferred to the county (like the FBO).  The lease agreement was written by county prosecutor Ron Kincade and calls for the county to be responsible for maintenance on the hangar, and allows the county to break the lease after 7 years; if this happens, the investor’s money will be refunded on a pro-rated basis. The investor, however, cannot break the lease at all, and must pay all insurance premiums required; he will recoup his investment through the sub-lease with his tenant.

Frank also stressed that BCFT needs to keep monitoring the situation.

New Business

New airline:  Henry reported that he wrote a letter to the airport commissioners requesting information on the charter airlines that are being courted for Ozark Regional.  He sees the biggest problems with a charter airline as being baggage handling (lack thereof), distance from the terminal, and repeated security screenings.  Having a service with an established airline connection would eliminate most of these.

Frank said that Richard Sheid had hoped to get RegionsAir to come here, and that they are now out of business.  NWAir/Mesaba came for a demonstration but was not warmly received and now will not come back.  The latest offerings are one charter service with service to St. Louis, another with service from Midway (AR) to Midway (Chicago), and Air Choice One, which is not affiliated with any other airline and doesn’t have compatible ticket codes for through-travel. 

A member suggested that maybe we could get both charters to agree to set up shop at the airport.  Frank said that it probably won’t happen because of the way the government subsidy is structured, $X per rider for an established length of time.  With two airlines, the money would go away twice as fast.  Terry brought up the subject of local government subsidies ($100,000 county and $28,000 city that has already been committed) and asked whether this money should be spent at all when the airline will probably disappear when the subsidy is used up.

More research and observation will be needed on this subject.

School bond issue:  Frank (who is on the superintendent’s “facility needs steering committee”) described the plans that the school district is considering, which will go before the voters in September.  He said there were a total of four committee meetings planned:  one to lay out the general plan; one to decide on the proposed new 3^rd-4^th-5^th grade school; one to discuss renovations to existing buildings; and one to decide on what will be done at the junior high and high school.  The preliminary plans are not set in concrete, and he hopes some changes will be made.

Ken asked about Nelson-Wilks and how the proposed plans would affect that school (where he tutors).  Frank told him that if the bond issue passes, they would start construction on the new 3-4-5 building in May 2008 to be completed in time for the 2009 school year.  At that point they could begin renovation of the existing NWH building:  plans are to demolish the 2 oldest wings in the north end, build several new classrooms and redo certain areas to serve new functions; they also plan to eliminate the duplication of services from having combined two buildings into one – two cafeterias, two offices, two libraries, etc.

Ken said that if the school board wants to get this issue passed, they’ll have to convince the voters that it will be a benefit to the students and the community – and not for the athletics program.   Frank added that if the taxpayers vote it down, the district will have to revamp the plan and start over.

Carl and Jim suggested separating the issues on the ballot and asking voters to approve one part of the plan at a time.  Frank said that that won’t happen because construction costs are skyrocketing, and if we stretch it out to 6-8 years the cost will be much more.

Lea asked what the tax impact would be for a 3.6 mill increase; Frank said that for a $100,000 house, every 1-mill increase would equal about $20, or about $72 per year (for a $200,000 house, about $144 per year, and so on).

After several more minutes of discussion, including the issue of the “multipurpose facility” at the high school (indoor practice field) and a straw poll, it was decided that BCFT’s position is to take the pork out … we can support classrooms and other educational necessities, but would not be in favor of funding the multipurpose facility or new bleachers and press boxes and such things.

Pool:  Frank is also serving as chairman of the Mayor’s indoor pool exploratory committee, and gave this report.  He has begun the search for the details about how the original pool was built/funded.  He also reported that the mayor has indicated that that pool should be resurfaced this winter, quite possibly with volunteer labor.  At the first committee meeting, about 15 people attended, and all were in favor of building a new facility.  The question about building a pool at the high school came up, and Frank explained that according to state law, if such a pool were built, it would only be for the use of the students and not open to the public.  Can’t put it on the ASU campus, either, because of leasing issues between the university and the city (ASU office in Jonesboro said no).  The only place that makes sense is at Cooper Park.

More later on this subject – the committee is just getting organized.

Open Discussion: 

Discussion included the FOIA requests to the airport commissioner (BCFT will continue to make them whenever necessary), making the impact of the school bond millage increase clear to voters (Frank will take it to the committee), and a question about where the school district boundaries are (not sure, will try to find out).

Meeting was adjourned at 3:25 pm.  Next meeting is scheduled for Saturday, June 30, 2007, at 1:00 pm at Redeemer Lutheran Church, Hwy 5 North.

Suzan Kaye, Secretary
Saturday, June 30, 2007