The complaints of the privileged are too often confused with the voice of the masses.” John Kenneth Galbraith (d. 2006), Economist
In Part 1 of this series, here, analysis of the urban terrain revealed that the city of Jonesboro is an “island oasis”, partly nestled in the hills of Crowley’s Ridge, in Craighead County, Arkansas. The city and capital of “The Free State of Northeast Arkansas” (coined by Governor Asa Hutchinson) is the biggest fish in the NEA sea, but the Jonesboro Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is amongst the smallest in the state. That fact is exacerbated by the fact that the larger cities of Little Rock, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, and Springdale all play in larger MSAs, including those in neighboring states that border “The Natural State”.
While its people, aka #JonesboroStrong, are the best representation of Southern hospitality and Jonesboro offers a great quality of life (as does all of NEA), every MSA that Jonesboro might draw from to, say, compete here in an indoor sports-complex, has more options closer to home. As such, there is inherently more risk to #JonesboroStrong residents, the owners, in committing to any $20M+ taxpayer-funded anything…especially in “forever-C19+” America. At the time of this article, there is much uncertainty about how the OBiden administration will flex the federal guvment as Summer transitions to Fall but in Australia, for example, the national guvment has locked down that country, as has the prime minister of New Zealand recently. That region of the planet, “Oceania”, while far removed from Jonesboro, offers insights into how other national governments, including here, could make life very tough for everyone.
In addition to the higher risks of geography and, less so, the tyranny of distance (why drive to Jonesboro when teams can compete closer to home?), the geo-politics internationally, in America, and in Arkansas could result in as bad a business environment in 2021-2022 as there was in 2020-2021. Many in the private sector lost their income; only government employees never missed a paycheck since the emergency began in March 2020. The inherent premium of a government paycheck did not stop the elected officials of Craighead County from voting its employees raises in 2021, as the private sector worked to recover from losses. This fact is not intended to vilify those who were once called “public servants”, only to highlight the dissimilar impact on the private and public sectors from a guvment mandated shutdown of the American economy.
There are other aspects of #JonesboroStrong that distinguish it and reinforce “do not raise taxes for any reason without a vote by #JonesboroStrong“. One such aspect is “income/wealth.” While Jonesboro has enough wealthier residents/guests to keep two country clubs prospering and enough solid middle/lower earners to keep ~20 movie-screens afloat, the city’s history reflects that Jonesboro could not keep a YMCA afloat and it never built a second public swimming pool, i.e., while the wealthier residents played at the clubs, the rest of #JonesboroStrong did what people do – they made do with what they had. “Gettin’ wet” got done at Craighead Forest Lake, Lake Walcott, Lake Frierson State Park, Sand Creek, Spring River, Lake Norfolk, and Bull Shoals Lake, to name a few. Over the years, a water park came and went, maybe two.
To frame the issue of “income”, here’s one comparison of how Jonesboro ranks in adjusted gross income (AGI) amongst the four more populated cities of Little Rock, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, and Springdale:
The only local zip code that made this list in 2018 was 72404/#16. Otherwise, the great majority of the wealthier zip codes in the state swam within the larger cities and Arkansans there played amongst the larger MSAs. Again, Jonesboro, that “island oasis” – in this case of “income” is strong in NEA but not so much elsewhere in the state.
Another screenshot ranks the zip codes by median income and 72404/#20 ranks lower in 2020. The majority of the higher ranked locations congregate where we’d expect them. Source: http://www.namecensus.com)
NOTE: While State University, Arkansas, “ASU”, ranked #13, it was not included in this comparison.
Here are the details within the city limits. The income of the two residential zip codes in Jonesboro are strikingly dissimilar, with 72404 representing the newer neighborhoods and 72401, the historic city.
NOTE: Jonesboro includes four zip codes. 72403 and 72402 are PO Box zip codes. The rank order of wealthiest zip codes in the city is 72403, 72404, 72402, 72401.
There is another aspect for calculating wealth that demands acknowledgement – the effects of “wealth transfers”. Here are screenshots that reveal the effects from the federal government’s tax policies on all working Americans since 1979 through 2014. Working Americans have known for decades that the middle-quintiles have been hollowed-out from some wage stagnation and tax revenue being redistributed into the lowest quintile. Yet, the wealthy have always hung tough.
(Note: Added on December 18, 2021, to reinforce the impact of “wealth redistribution”: At 00:54:20, former Federal Reserve Bank insider Danielle DiMartino Booth does the arithmetic on mandated “redistribution” – $61K: https://youtu.be/boJG__D87fI)
What all of the above represents is that Jonesboro is a wealthier city in NEA but the great majority of #JonesboroStrong is not as wealthy as peers the other cities and MSAs. By the way, demographic statistics indicate that about ~20% of the population in Jonesboro is impoverished. (Source: www.bestplaces.net)
NOTE: How the redistribution of wealth massages the incomes amongst the middle and lowest quintiles in Jonesboro is a task better suited to some other graduate of Heifer High, ’75.
This leaves the wealthier residents of Jonesboro, those with the discretionary income and the wherewithal to, as one #JonesboroStrong parent volunteered recently at a meeting (paraphrasing), “…spend ~$1200 three or four times a year for weekend travel team competitions.” One way to consider the impact of those with the discretionary income to travel at will but, let’s face it, “it’d be nice to compete at home,” is to extrapolate the “zip code” comparison throughout the state. In 2020, of the 200 highest income zip codes in Arkansas, Jonesboro scored: 72403 (PO Box)/#23; 72404/#35; 72402 (PO Box)/#50; and 72401/#90. (Source: www.namecensus.com) So, while “the big fish” in Jonesboro live a comfortable life here, there’s many bigger fish, many “whales” in deeper water, beyond the “island oasis” of NEA.
(NOTE: In gambling vernacular, a ‘whale” is a “high roller,” a player with massive amounts of money to wager. For the purposes of this discussion, think Walton, Stephens, Murphy, Rockefeller, Tyson, Hunt, and others. While some names may be familiar to #JonesboroStrong, none are associated with NEA to the same degree as NWA, Central, SWA, SEA. Also, the guvnor is a whale, as the executive branch disperses vast amounts of NEA tax revenue to other regions. For example, a low-income housing program administered by the Arkansas Secretary of Commerce parceled out approximately 70% of the funds to NWA and Central, leaving 10% each for NEA, SEA, and SWA. [Source: Comment by an Arkansas state senator])
There’s at least one other unique aspect of income/wealth, perhaps a “wild-card”, that indicates other sources of wealth available to other areas in the state that are not available to #JonesboroStrong, those being: 1- Jonesboro is in “dry” Craighead County, which significantly reduces revenue as compared to all other large jurisdictions but it also strengthens the symbiotic relationship with surrounding counties’ i.e., Craighead County dollars boost revenue in Greene and Poinsett Counties; 2- residuals from oil and gas wells, and, now, the extraction of Lithium in south Arkansas.
Oil & brine…and Smackover, AR: https://share.newsbreak.com/qhyqsqtr
It is beyond the scope of this article to do anything more than note that Jonesboro is unique amongst the cities, towns, and MSAs that the city and Team Jonesboro “pine for”. In this case, it is to tax residents and guests for, supposedly, a publicly-funded $20M+ tax-payer funded sports-complex. Referring back to the oil and gas pic and the dearth of wells in NEA, one counter-point could be that Jonesboro is surrounded by world-class agriculture. That is true, but crops are subject to the forces of Mother Nature, i.e., pests, weather, flooding, tornadoes and other risks beyond my limited knowledge (I’m an “eater”, not a farmer or rancher or gardener – an eater who appreciates those who “grow”.). All environmental issues add risks in ways that subterranean drilling doesn’t and, therefore, “ag-wealth” brings a higher risk factor for #JonesboroStrong. Here, again, environment plays into the “island oasis” that is Jonesboro.
In closing, “income” in Jonesboro is demonstrably less and different here than elsewhere in-state. While it is more than enough to keep Jonesboro the “Gem of the Delta”, #JonesboroStrong thrives despite the “headwinds” of city guvment and Team Jonesboro-ish gamblers. Guvment and the whales always survive a “snake-eyes” roll of the dice, e.g., TJ lost the 2019 special election, but, with gale force winds roaring since “forever-C19+”, the shutdown of the private sector in 2020-2021 and the uncertainties ahead, those forces that seek tax increases of any kind and seek expensive tax-payer-funded projects for conveniences, not needs – without a vote by the residents – does a great disservice to those who call Jonesboro “home”.
Action
Write one email addressed to councilcomments@jonesboro.org, aldermen@jonesboro.org, bcampbell@jonesboro.org to reach the city council and the mayor’s communications officer , or contact each, as listed below. To contact Mayor Harold Copenhaver and his executive team separately via Mr. Bill Campbell, call and/or text 870-919-7042 (c), 870-336-7164 (o), bcampbell@jonesboro.org.
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