Facing a deadline to make improvements to its water and sewer system required by the state of Arkansas, the city of Mountain View’s voters will choose the way to fund the project.
There are two ways to do the funding.
One way — which the city’s Water and Sewer Department recommends — is to re-finance the current water and sewer bonds, pay them off, and then issue new bonds which will include the cost of the project.
In all likelihood, the interest rate will be lower and the new bonds can be paid off quicker. There is already a one-cent sales tax being used to pay the “old” bonds. It would continue to be used to pay for the “new” bonds. In this way, customers’ water and sewer rates would not increase in order to fund the project. At the ballot, it will take a “For” vote in order for the funding to be implemented: “For” paying off the old bonds, and “For” approving new bonds.
The second way is to raise the rates in which customers pay for their water and sewer services. It would require an initial increase of 30 percent. Then, that initial increase would need to be followed by 5 percent increases for the next five years. That’s at least a 55 percent increase in water and sewer rates over a five-year period.
The residents of Mountain View will decide which way they want to fund the project as they go to the polls in a special election on May 12. Voting will be held at the Stone County Fairgrounds in Mountain View. Early voting began yesterday, May 5, and will continue through Monday, May 11.
Early voting is being done at the election headquarters, on the square in Mountain View.
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