The Carroll County Clerk’s Office has verified 148 of the 158 signatures collected by local resident Pat Matsukis on a petition seeking a ballot initiative that, if approved by voters in the Nov. 5 general election, would abolish the Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission and repeal the 3 percent tax on lodging and restaurant sales that supports it.
Matsukis submitted 158 signatures on Wednesday, Aug. 21. For a municipal initiated act, state law requires the signatures of a number of registered voters equal to 15 percent of the total number of voters who cast ballots in a city’s most recent mayoral election. A total of 985 votes were cast in the 2022 mayoral election. Based on that number, Matsukis needed 148 verified signatures. County officials rejected 10 signatures submitted by Matsukis, County Clerk Connie Doss said Thursday, Aug. 22, leaving exactly the necessary number.
The petition was certified on the morning of Friday, Aug. 23, and delivered to the county election commission when it met later that day to draw ballot positions for the election.
“As of now, it’s on the ballot,” Doss told election commissioners.
Matsukis began collecting signatures in mid-July, shortly after a tense commission meeting that was followed the next day by the resignation of commission chair Chris Clifton and commissioner Chris Jones. Several residents had urged Clifton to resign at that June 26 meeting. Several former commissioners and city officials also are defendants in an ongoing lawsuit filed by former employees and contractors with the CAPC.
“… (E)vents in recent years have called into serious question the actions of several commissioners of the CAPC, the judgment, ethical considerations and legality of many of their actions and lack of accountability for these questionable actions …,” reads one section of the petition circulated by Matsukis.
Matsukis’ effort has been criticized by CAPC commissioners and staff, as well as other city officials and some local business owners who say repealing the advertising and promotion tax and abolishing the CAPC could have a devastating impact on tourism in the city, which could then cripple the city’s overall economy and lead to a reduction in city services.
State law outlines specific uses for the advertising and promotion tax. Matsukis has suggested that the A&P tax could be replaced by a general municipal sales tax, the revenue from which could be used to fund improvements to the city’s infrastructure. Such a tax would require voters’ approval.
Community Meeting Heart of Eureka, a large group of Eureka Springs business owners, will hold a community meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 3, at the Best Western Inn of the Ozarks, to discuss the proposed dissolution of the CAPC and its potential impact on the city’s tourism and overall economy. The session will cover the significance of the CAPC, the implications of the ballot initiative and strategies to mobilize community action.
