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Here is where you can find news about Jonesboro, Craighead County, and Arkansas at large, as well as news for Missouri and Tennessee.[ Read our Mission Statement ]

Jonesboro City Council approves hotel tax increase and lowering speed limit on two major roads

Jonesboro Municipal Center
Brandon Tabor
/
KASU News

The Jonesboro City Council has given approval to an ordinance that would raise the taxes on hotel occupancy. 

The measure was passed unanimously on Tuesday, December 7 by the council. It would raise the existing 3% hotel occupancy tax to 4%, which is the state maximum. 

Funds raised from this tax would be used for an indoor sports complex in Jonesboro. 

The additional funds would go to the Jonesboro Advertising and Promotion Commission for the designation of a facility. 

City officials say an indoor sports facility would generate millions of dollars in economic impact for their communities.  Those against the tax say it hurts businesses trying to recover from the financial strains of the pandemic. 

In November 2021, the council passed a 2% so called "hamburger tax" on prepared foods that will also go toward the sports complex. That tax will go into effect January 2022.

Meanwhile, the council also approved a resolution that could reduce speeds on two highly traveled roadways.

Members approved a proposal that would ask the Arkansas Department of Transportation to reduce the speed limit to 35 miles per hour on East Johnson Avenue from Red Wolf to Main Street and on Highland Drive from Distributor to Barnhill.

The current speed limit posted on both roads is set at 45 miles per hour.

Officials behind the resolution cite a high number of crashes on the roads as a reason for lowering the speed.

Johnathan Reaves is the News Director for KASU Public Radio. As part of an Air Force Family, he moved to Arkansas from Minot, North Dakota in 1986. He was first bitten by the radio bug after he graduated from Gosnell High School in 1992. While working on his undergraduate degree, he worked at KOSE, a small 1,000 watt AM commercial station in Osceola, Arkansas. Upon graduation from Arkansas State University in 1996 with a degree in Radio-Television Broadcast News, he decided that he wanted to stay in radio news. He moved to Stuttgart, Arkansas and worked for East Arkansas Broadcasters as news director and was there for 16 years.
A Northeast Arkansas native from Wynne, I’ve been involved with radio for about 15 years. I got my Bachelor of Arts degree from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, where I also served as an award-winning News Director for 2 years at KSWH-LP.