Brookland, AR – Jonesboro Right Now – The City of Brookland will be asking voters to consider re-funding and restructuring existing bonds that fund various municipal improvement projects this November.

Voters approved levying the city’s 2% sales tax back in 2016 to fund municipal water improvements. The bonds can be re-funded and restructured every five years to raise more money to pay for other projects, which happened in 2021. That paid for the first phase of Brookland’s sportsplex, the first phase of a new municipal building, and sewer improvements.

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Now, five years later, the city is asking voters to approve refinancing the bonds again. If approved, they would pay for the second phases of Brookland’s sportsplex and municipal building, additional sewer improvements, more storm shelters and sirens across the city, and various traffic and road improvements. Voters will vote on restructuring the bonds, as well as each individual improvement, separately.

Brookland Mayor Kenneth Jones said the proposed restructuring does not represent a tax increase for citizens. The project cost, if approved, would be under $18 million according to the mayor.

“It’s 2%, and it just restructures the current bond,” Jones said. “If this all fails and we can’t do any other work that we want to do, we’re still paying the 2% sales tax until everything’s paid off. So, it doesn’t change a thing, except restructure the bond so that we can have more money to do more projects with.”

Jones said one of the things city leadership has been working on for a while is traffic flow improvements near Brookland Public Schools (BPS).

| READ MORE: Brookland schools, city leaders collaborate on solutions for traffic congestion

Two of the issues in the bonds would see the city work with the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) to improve the intersections of Highway 49 and School Street, and Highway 49 and Pine Log Road, as well as to construct a new city street in an effort to reduce school traffic congestion.

“One of the issues on the bond is a new city street that will be actually on the north side of the intermediate school. Elementary and primary will come in from Pine Log and come up, hit the new road, and come around, and when it gets around there, they’ll split off – primary, go to primary; elementary, go to elementary,” Jones said. “That will basically take most of the car traffic off of School Street, except for exiting.”

The bonds also allocate funds for the installation of new community storm shelters, of which the city currently has only one. Jones said the city wants to install another one similar to its existing shelter, as well as some smaller shelters sprinkled throughout the city, and install more sirens to accommodate Brookland’s expansion.

These would be in addition to the storm shelter built at BPS’s new intermediate building, which celebrated its grand opening earlier this week. It will act as a community shelter after school hours.

The bonds would also complete construction of Brookland’s sportsplex. Ball fields are already finished, Jones said, with the next steps to include installing concession stands, fencing, and lighting.

If approved, the bonds would also finish construction of the city’s new municipal center. The first phase saw the completion of a new police station, which accommodates the city’s larger police force and has space to conduct interviews, house an evidence room, and more. That was completed in June 2026.

The second phase will see the construction of a city hall, which includes space for city council chambers, new offices, and more.

Jones said plans had been drawn for most of the projects. Provided the issues are approved in November, he said work could begin around March 2027. ARDOT is expected to begin bid letting for the Highway 49/School Street intersection improvements in September 2027 or early 2028, and for the Highway 49/Pine Log Road improvements in April 2027.

“It’s up to the people, and all we can do is present it to them,” Jones said. “They’ve been great; they wanted to see our city grow and continue to grow, do things with infrastructure, promote our city for the citizens, and have good growth.”

Early voting for the 2026 general election begins Oct. 19 and will conclude Nov. 2. Election Day will be Tuesday, Nov. 3.

The deadline to register to vote for this election is Monday, Oct. 5. Click here for voter registration information.

Editor’s Note: Clarification was added to explain the total project cost for the proposed improvements.

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