(NOTE: This is the text of what would have been read aloud at the Jonesboro City Council meeting on September 21, 2021, had the council not voted to slip the second reading of the ordinance to October 19, 2021. The pics were added for those not familiar with this story.)
Please vote “Nay” on Ordinance 21:039.
1. #JonesboroStrong is still living and working under Governor Hutchinson’s C19 emergency conditions, first imposed on March 11, 2020 and reinstated on July 30, 2021.
2. On March 19, 2020, one week after the guvnor declared the emergency, the @JonesboroSun headline read, “Landlord helps businesses try to stay afloat“. Landlord helps businesses try to stay afloat | Local News | jonesborosun.com
That’s “…try to stay afloat” – at the start of the emergency that continues today, with many still struggling.
In what soon became a national example of #JonesboroStrong, Mr. Clay Young, a downtown property owner, waived the rent for business owners, as long as the business used that money to pay its employees during the crisis.
The impact of Mr. Young’s gracious actions earned him acclaim from local and national media and, in July 2020, recognition of he and his better-half by President Donald J. Trump at a White House ceremony for #Americans who represented the best of the country’s response to the crisis.
3. Later, on November 11, 2020, Veterans Day, a @JonesboroSun print edition headline read, “Improvement district may be re-activated“. Improvement district may be re-activated | News | jonesborosun.com
The “money” quote in the article was, “The [Downtown Jonesboro Improvement District] commission has the power to assess fees to property owners to make improvements for the common good of all the owners, Young told The Sun Tuesday.”
Here again, Clay Young was attempting to act in the best interest of #JonesboroStrong downtown, to keep properties maintained and attractive, for example.
Again, that quote was “..commission has the power to assess “fees” to property owners…”, not ” nakedly ask the city government to raise the costs for renters and the buying public, too”.
Increased property taxes roll downhill onto renters and business owners, who raise prices on customers. This tax hits the buying public both by direct schemes, i.e., the DJID property tax rolls down-hill into higher costs at the cash registers; and by indirect schemes, i.e., the higher cost of goods at the cash registers increases the sales tax revenue for the city and state – the real “mousetrap” of this ordinance.
4. In 2020, for the “first time in 5-years, the 2020 poverty rate jumped and the real median household income plunged.” Shadow Government Statistics – Home Page (shadowstats.com)
Attributing the persistent, ongoing “hurt” on families and workers to C19 is disingenuous, as the city government’s tax coffers grew and public employees, such as yourselves, never missed a paycheck.
It was the private sector and its workforce that was crushed. Where is the Clay Young-like graciousness and consideration for #JonesboroStrong from those of you with guaranteed employment, even “part-time” pay for service on the city council?
The ordinance starts collecting taxes on January 1, 2022, but there is no requirement or timeline for the DJID to do anything, yet “the taxman cometh”.
It certainly raises a question about how many other downtown property owners followed Mr. Young’s example in 2020?
5. If the DJID wants something, it already has the ability to charge fees of its members to get what it thinks it wants. But, at some point, the DJID changed its self-imposed “power to assess fees” on its members. Now, the DJID wants this city council to transfer the burdens of “business risk” onto the backs of the public and, in doing so, fill-up the city tax coffers.
6. As an anecdotal example of the current situation in the city, a week ago We spent ~$25 for my wife and I to eat meals at a restaurant on Caraway Road. More recently, We spent ~$25 dollars for one mixed-drink and a one entree, which she and I shared, at a newer establishment downtown.
With inflation already taxing all of Us and, with the OBiden administration’s publicly announced plans to increase taxes, any increase in out-of-pocket expenses downtown will ensure We choose somewhere else in the city, including Gee Street, but certainly not downtown or on Huntington Avenue, where newer establishments have recently opened and there’s at least one in the pre-“start-up” mode.
7. How does increasing the start-up costs for businesses sound to “Jonesboro Unlimited”?
More accurately, how does it sound to the members of the chamber of commerce, that which includes the sole proprietor and “mom-and-pop” businesses still struggling to regain traction while the federal and state guvments back-stop the big box stores?
Worse than the occassional tornado and the less-frequent ice-storm that has greeted each of the last two mayors, C19 struck 100% of #JonesboroStrong.
Has this government forgotten the accolades and proclamations of “community” it hollers whenever a disaster occurs, as the city tax coffers continue to grow, with “mom-and-pop” replaced by on-line purchases?
5. Again, vote “No” on this ordinance. Let the DJIDB live or die by its own capabilities.
(NOTE: End of text read to council.)
Action
Write 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), email bcampbell@jonesboro.org
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