Garland County justices of the peace put renewal of road tax on November ballot

June 24, 2026 by David Showers https://www.hotsr.com/news/2026/jun/24/garland-county-jps-advance-referendum-for-sales/#:~:text=The%20tax%20expires%20June%2030,of%20the%20county's%20regist

ered%20voters.

Justices of the peace gave a do-pass recommendation Monday to the ordinance referring the third reauthorization of the 0.625% countywide sales tax to voters in November.

The Garland County Quorum Court Public Health, Welfare and Safety Committee unanimously recommended the ordinance to the full quorum court, which will consider the text at its July 13 meeting.

Voters previously reauthorized the tax in a February 2022 special election that pledged the proceeds to repair and replacement of existing roads and bridges in the roughly 1,000-mile network Garland County and the city of Hot Springs maintain.

The tax expires June 30 of next year under the ballot title voters endorsed by five percentage points in a special election that turned out fewer than 10% of the county's registered voters. According to the ordinance advanced Monday, the tax would continue until June 30, 2032, if reauthorized for a third time.

Special elections in October 2011 and June 2016 authorized and reauthorized the tax, with proceeds securing more than $100 million in principal and interest for debt issued to build the detention center on Albert Pike Road and pay for road improvements. Proceeds from the 2016 reauthorization provided the county's $30 million contribution to the $87.2 million extension of the King Expressway that opened in September 2023.

The tax would continue to support repair and maintenance of existing roads and bridges in the county and city inventory should voters reauthorize it for a third time.

Through May, proceeds from the current authorization resurfaced 192 miles of county-maintained roads, according to the list County Judge Darryl Mahoney gave JPs Monday. The more than 300 entries represent more than a quarter of the county inventory's total mileage. Mahoney said the county resurfaced about 5 miles a year prior to the tax.

"Hopefully, the documentation we have and evidence based data we can share will be enough to convince the public it's a great value for their money," Mahoney told JPs.

According to budget information, the county's population based share generates more than $10 million annually, with all proceeds held in the road and bridge improvement fund the quorum court created in 2022.

"Every penny of it goes into an account earmarked just for this," Mahoney told JPs. "It's not used for anything else."

The county's $113.2 million 2026 budget appropriated $16 million from the road and bridge improvement fund and $5.5 million for asphalt from the road fund.

According to budget information, the city of Hot Springs' population-based share returned more than $6.8 million last year. The county's other four incorporated areas also receive per capita shares.

The program has helped sustain the county's transition to hot-mix asphalt paving instead of the less durable chip-and-seal, a method that compacts aggregate onto a thin layer of asphalt, used prior to Mahoney's tenure as county judge.

"You can't drive anywhere in Garland County or the city of Hot Springs and not be on a new asphalt road," he told JPs. "It's in great shape."

Mahoney said the county's share will have replaced about a dozen bridges the Arkansas Department of Transportation deemed structurally deficient. All county-maintained bridges in that category have either been replaced, are under contract for replacement or have been accepted into the federal bridge replacement program, Mahoney said.