Every community in Arkansas, large or small, deserves the opportunity to thrive. Yet limitations in our state’s current economic development framework can make it difficult for communities to pursue projects that would benefit their residents.
A community can have a great vision for a development project, but making it happen often requires significant infrastructure improvements. Roads, utilities, and other improvements can create a funding gap that is difficult to overcome. In some cases, communities are left with difficult choices about how to pay for those improvements, including whether to raise local taxes.
Issue 3 could help close that gap by giving communities new ways to use revenue generated by economic growth to support needed development and infrastructure improvements.
Issue 3 would amend the Arkansas Constitution to expand the economic development tools available in our state, including providing for the creation of economic development districts. We believe those tools could help Arkansas communities turn more good opportunities into projects that move forward.
Different Communities, Different Needs
No two communities have exactly the same development needs.
One may need more housing. Another may be trying to attract a grocery store or healthcare provider. Elsewhere, the opportunity may be revitalizing a downtown or putting an underused property back to work.
Job creation, housing, revitalization, infrastructure, broadband, food deserts, and childcare are among the needs economic development districts could help Arkansas communities address.
What works in one part of Arkansas may not work somewhere else. Giving communities more flexibility allows them to focus on the opportunities that make sense locally.
Turning Opportunities Into Projects
A successful development can benefit more than the property itself. It can bring needed services closer to home, create jobs, and encourage additional investment in the surrounding area.
Those benefits are why it’s important for communities to have options when pursuing development opportunities. Economic development tools can help make projects possible that might otherwise struggle to move forward.
Keeping Arkansas Competitive
Arkansas is also competing with communities across the country for private investment.
According to information presented to the Arkansas Legislature, 48 states have economic development tools available that Arkansas currently lacks. This can put Arkansas communities at a disadvantage when competing for certain types of development.
When an opportunity goes somewhere else, the jobs, investment, and economic activity can go with it. We believe Arkansas communities should be in a strong position to compete for those opportunities, and Issue 3 can help make that possible.
No economic development tool can make every project work, nor should it. But we have seen good opportunities struggle because the pieces simply could not come together.
Issue 3 can give communities another tool to help close that gap. That’s why Nabholz Properties supports Issue 3 on November 3.
Learn more at yeson3.vote.