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Tax Dollars Could Go Toward Multimillion-Dollar Trail System

FORT SMITH (KFSM) – On May 12 voters in Fort Smith will have a chance to decide whether part of a street sales tax will go toward building a 35-mile trail syste...

FORT SMITH (KFSM) – On May 12 voters in Fort Smith will have a chance to decide whether part of a street sales tax will go toward building a 35-mile trail system.

Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders and Jerry Fleming from the group “Save Our Streets Fort Smith” sat down with Daren Bobb on 5NEWS Sunday Morning to discuss building and connecting trails throughout the city, and how it will be paid for.

"This really is an investment in our future -- for our health, for our growth, and continued economic development,” Sanders said.

Fleming said he supports the trail project, as long as the money comes from a different place than what's on the ballot.

"I'm 100 percent in favor of the trail system -- I’m 100 percent in favor of the one-cent sales tax for the streets. I’m just opposed to diverting money from the streets to the trails system,” he said.

Voters will decide whether five percent of the already-existing one-cent sales tax should go toward the trail project.

Fleming said the street tax should be used solely for street and drainage issues throughout the city -- not trails.

"We're already in the hole; we can't afford [it]. We don't have any surplus money. No one looked to see if there was any money in the street fund. They just looked around the parks commission, the trails commission, the trails committee and the board. They just looked around and said, 'There's a fund, let's tap it,’” Fleming said.

But Mayor Sanders argues that giving up five percent of the street tax to the trail project is worth it.

“People say, 'How come we don't do things like Northwest Arkansas?’ Well these are the kinds of things that we need to focus on in order to keep the young people we have here, to attract businesses that hire young people,” he said.

The trails project is expected to cost about $15 million.

Early voting for the issue is on May 5.

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