Washington County voters will soon get to decide if they'll approve a sales tax to supply emergency responders with a new radio system.
Nobody enjoys more taxes, but a few voters say they don't mind if it upgrades emergency communication equipment. On the ballot, Tuesday voters will decide.
Here are a few things to know before heading to the polls:
A tax increase of one-quarter of one penny. That is what the Washington County Emergency Department is proposing to voters in a way to fund new communication equipment.
“We feel like it would carry us the next fifteen to 20 years,” said John Luther, Wash. Co Emergency Management Director.
Currently, firefighters, police and other emergency services within Washington Couty use 15-year-old radios to communicate emergencies with one another.
This equipment connects to towers located throughout the county. John Luther says the current radios run into dead zones where connection to the towers is tough.
“We’re very limited on our communications now and really we’ve been telling people one lightning strike and we’re without communication,” says Luther.
A new system would eliminate that problem. It's called the A-win system which stands for Arkansas wireless information system and Luther says the rest of the state is beginning to use it.
“Fayetteville’s there, Springdale's coming on, Rogers is on, Benton county is coming on, state police, game and fish,” says Luther.
Voters are now weighing in.
“They’re asked an awful lot to keep everybody in this community safe I mean 100,000 calls, that’s an awful lot, that’s an awful lot of need in the community, community’s only growing and the need’s only going to get greater,” said Michelle Ryel, Washington County voter.
Luther says folks that live in Washington County will not hold the sole burden of paying for this. People visiting for football, basketball, softball will also contribute through their spending.
The Washington County Emergency Department says this proposal is written to strictly limit spending on communication equipment.