The Little Rock City Board meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday and is scheduled to have three votes on the mayor’s desire to call a special election to increase the sales tax Jan. 1 by 1 percent, an increase of 5/8ths-of-a-cent in the current rate because a 3/8ths-of-a-cent capital improvement tax expires this year.
There is an ordinance to set a July 13 special election as well as an ordinance to levy the tax if voters approve.
The city sales tax is currently 1.5 percent, but will drop by .125 percent at the end of the year.
The city also gets about half of the 1-cent county sales tax. The state collects 6.5 percent on sales in the city. At restaurants, bars and hotels, other sales taxes add to the total.
A third item on Tuesday’s agenda is a resolution on how the new sales tax money would be spent.
The distribution outlined in the resolution on file remains the same as a division first put forward by Mayor Frank Scott Jr.
The City Board departed from custom and held separate readings on the two ordinances to move slowly to a final vote, rather than suspending the rules and having all readings the same day.