JUNE 2014

Ready for businessThe Crain Automotive Team is wrapping up construction

on its second dealership in Conway. Crain Kia is located on South Amity Road and will open for business on Wednesday, June 18. Full story, Page 4.

Faulkner County Business Journal To subscribe call (501) 329-2927 • Log Cabin Democrat2D — Sunday, June 15, 2014

The Conway Area Chamber of Commerce has launched a citywide initiative called “Be Vocal Buy Local” to encour-age residents to do business in Conway.

The campaign outlines three reasons why it is impor-tant to buy locally. First, sales taxes from purchases made in Conway support its city services, such as police and fire departments; parks; and streets. Second, patronizing local businesses keeps them in operation and retains jobs. Finally, local, independent shops are what make Conway distinct and vibrant.

President and CEO Brad Lacy said the initiative is something the Chamber has wanted to do for a while. The purpose, he explained, is to make people aware that they do not have to leave Con-way to get what they want or need.

“The heart of Be Vocal Buy Local is to create outspoken advocates for our community,” he said. “When we keep our money here at home, we’re only helping ourselves.”

The first phase of Be Vocal Buy Local was introduced in April. Through “Staff Picks,” Chamber employees share on social media some of their fa-vorite places to do business in Conway.

Be Vocal Buy Local was unveiled in its entirety at the Chamber’s June CEO Lun-cheon. The website, BeVocal-BuyLocal.org, features vid-eoed and written stories from local business owners and an opportunity for other business owners to tell their story.

The website includes a re-sources page where business owners can download stick-ers, table tents, personalized posters and a T-shirt order form. Business owners and company representatives can also get up to three full-color

posters from the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce during regular business hours.

Business owners can take the Be Vocal Buy Local mes-sage online by embedding a badge on their company’s website and using a provided template for social media ac-tivity. Chamber-member busi-nesses can upload coupons to the Chamber website, which links to BeVocalBuyLocal.org.

“We want people to help us spread the word so that every-one in the community can un-derstand how important it is to make local purchases and continue to build the type of city we want to live in,” Lacy said.

“When you choose to shop locally, you choose to invest in your community.”

‘Be Vocal Buy Local’ encourages consumers to shop locally

Managers who are look-ing to provide team building or reward opportunities for their employees may find that Bowling for Business is right up their alley.

Bowling for Business en-courages interaction among employees in a fun and laid-back environment and pro-motes friendly competition among participating busi-nesses. The event, hosted by the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce, will take place Fri-day, June 27, at Conway Fam-ily Bowl. Crafton Tull is the presenting sponsor.

Bowling for Business of-fers morning and afternoon

“flights” separated by lunch. The morning flight is from 10 a.m. until noon, and the after-noon flight is from 1-3 p.m. Lunch is from noon to 1 p.m. Lunch is included for all par-ticipants, giving more than 200 professionals the chance to network while enjoying tra-ditional bowling alley fare. Smith Ford, Southwestern En-ergy Company and Kimberly-Clark are the lunch sponsors.

Five-person team sponsor-ships are still available for $200. To participate in Bowl-ing for Business on June 27, register online at Conway-Chamber.org or call 501-327-7788.

Registration open for Chamber bowling event

Arkansas residents impacted by the flooding, severe storms and torna-does of April 27 have un-til June 30 to register for individual disaster as-sistance through FEMA. Arkansas businesses are encouraged to ensure that their employees who were living in Faulkner, Pulaski, Randolph and White counties and im-pacted by these storms know of the deadline to

register for assistance.Survivors can continue

to register for FEMA in-dividual assistance online until June 30 at Disas-terAssistance.gov or via a Web-enabled device at m.FEMA.gov. They may also call 800-621-3362 or (TTY) 800-462-7585. The toll-free telephone num-bers will operate from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. seven days a week.

Disaster assistance

can include money for rental assistance, essen-tial home repairs, per-sonal property losses and other serious disas-ter-related needs not cov-ered by insurance. So far, about 1,385 Arkansans have registered for as-sistance, and more than $2.5 million in assistance has been approved, ac-cording to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The June 30 deadline also applies for home-owner, renter and busi-ness applications with the Small Business Ad-ministration (SBA) for disaster loan assistance, another important step in the disaster relief pro-cess to ensure survivors obtain all relief they are eligible for.

For businesses, an SBA disaster loan repre-sents the best opportuni-

ty for disaster assistance. There is no obligation to accept an SBA disas-ter home loan even af-ter applying. If survivors are denied an SBA home loan, they might be eligi-ble to receive other assis-tance from FEMA, such as money to replace per-sonal property.

Of note, apart from the June 30 SBA dead-line for property damage, businesses also have un-

til Jan. 29, 2015, to apply for SBA economic injury disaster loans. All home-owners, renters and busi-nesses are encouraged to register with FEMA and SBA to ensure eligibility for future forms of aid.

For additional infor-mation on the SBA, call 800-659-2955 or TTY 800-877-8339, email Di-sasterCustomerService@SBA.gov, or visit SBA.gov.

Deadline for FEMA assistance, SBA applications is June 30

Faulkner County Business Journal Sunday, June 15, 2014 — 3D Log Cabin Democrat • Find our online edition at www.thecabin.net

Ten schools in the Conway Public School District received finan-cial incentives for being high-performing pub-lic schools in the state of Arkansas.

The Arkansas School Recognition and Re-ward Program recogniz-es the top 20 percent of schools based on aca-demic achievement, aca-demic growth and grad-uation rates. In the 2013-14 school year, the program recognized 206 public schools as high-performing schools.

With 10 schools earn-ing recognition, Conway Public Schools ties Ben-tonville Public Schools as having the most re-ward schools in Arkan-sas.

Schools in the top

20 percent this year re-ceived $45.35 per stu-dent. Schools that were in the top 10 percent re-ceived $90.70 per stu-dent.

The Top 10% Reward Schools include Carl Stu-art Middle ($65,316.48), Carolyn Lewis Elemen-tary ($39,619.08), El-len Smith Elementa-ry ($44,823.78) and Jim Stone Elementary ($41,377.14).

The Top 20% Re-ward Schools include Bob Courtway Middle ($21,818.47), Conway Jr. High ($64,607.27), Ju-lia Lee Moore Elemen-tary ($14,651.15), Ray-mond and Phyllis Simon Middle ($19,633.93), Ruth Doyle Middle ($24,661.09) and Wood-row Cummins Elemen-

tary ($21,944.88).To honor these schools,

Brad Lacy, president and CEO of the Conway Area Chamber of Com-merce, Dr. Greg Murry, superintendent of Con-way Public Schools, Sen. Jason Rapert and Rep. David Meeks present-ed ceremonial checks to the principals of each re-ward school. The presen-tation took place at the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce.

“Academic achieve-ment and growth not only mean students are getting a quality educa-tion; they resulted in ad-ditional funds for high-performing schools,” said Dr. Tom Kimbrell, com-missioner of the Arkan-sas Department of Ed-ucation. “The funds will

allow schools to provide additional resources and tools to help students be-come ready for college and careers.”

Schools receiving rec-ognition funds estab-lished a committee to de-termine the best use of the funds.

The committee in-cluded the principal, a teacher elected by the faculty and a parent rep-resentative selected by the local Parent Teach-er Association or anoth-er parental involvement group. Schools may use the funds for faculty and staff bonuses, education-al equipment and mate-rials or personnel to as-sist with improving or maintaining student per-formance.

A total of $7 million

from the governor’s allo-cation of the General Im-provement Fund was des-ignated for the Arkansas School Recognition and Reward Program this school year. The Arkan-sas Legislature support-ed Gov. Mike Beebe’s rec-ommendation to fund the program with $7 million from general revenue in the 2014-15 school year.

Originally passed as part of 2004’s Act 35,

school rewards had nev-er been funded until this year. Act 1429 of 2013 re-vised the program, and Act 703 of 2013 appro-priated funding. Arkan-sas Learns, the private sector alliance for excel-lence in public educa-tion, championed annual funding in both the 89th General Assembly and the recent fiscal session. To learn more, visit Ar-kansasLearns.org.

Ten Conway public schools honored with reward fundsConway one of two distriCts with 10 ‘reward sChools’

Perhaps the worst-kept secret in Conway for the last decade was that a number of downtown

business owners were quietly frustrated by the growing scale and impact of Toad Suck Daze. Earlier this month the grumbling became fully vocalized as more than twenty downtown business owners signed a petition calling for Toad Suck Daze to be moved out of downtown.

A combination of record-set-ting crowds and some new fac-es downtown probably deserve most of the credit for getting the issue off the fence. Regard-less, it’s a good thing. There has

been more productive dialogue between festival organizers and downtown merchants this month than there has been in the last ten years. That’s not to say all of the talk has been productive. But that’s the nature of conflict resolution.

Some bona-fide original ideas have come from this conversa-tion: Migrate some of the festival to Markham Street to jump-start or coincide with its redevelop-ment. Change the “flavor” and scale of the entertainment to at-tract crowds that are more likely to shop downtown. Take advan-tage of some space at the now less-occupied courthouse and

move some of the “kiddie rides” to the kids area already established there. Establish Oak Street as a “retail corridor” and set-up in a way that facilitates shopping.

Some or all of these options could be put in place quick-ly. They would also offer mea-surable relief to downtown mer-chants and those wanting to shop downtown. Just ideas. But they are a sign of progress. And we shouldn’t discount the value of modest progress when we’re talking about an issue with as many moving parts as Toad Suck Daze.

However, there is one audi-ence that hasn’t been officially

engaged yet—the festival attend-ee. Toad Suck Daze holds a spe-cial place in the hearts of many Faulkner County residents (and beyond). It’s difficult to imagine a forum to have productive dia-logue with this equally impor-tant but more unwieldy constit-uency. It’s hard to gather or even determine the prevailing pref-erences of 150,000 people. But that’s no less reason to do it.

Whether you own a business downtown, organize the festival or just attend you’ve got a right to join the conversation. With that right comes the responsibil-ity to make sure the dialogue is respectful and productive.

EDITORIAL

At least they’re talking

The Crain Automo-tive Team is wrapping up construction on its sec-ond dealership in Con-way. Crain Kia is located on South Amity Road and will open for business on Wednesday, June 18.

Jay Myers will be the general manager of Con-way’s new Kia store. My-ers is also the general manager of Crain Buick GMC, located on North Museum Road in Con-way.

“We are excited about the new facility,” Myers said. “It will be a full-ser-vice dealership. The ser-vice that you’ve come to expect from Crain Buick GMC will be the same at Crain Kia. Our tech-nicians are certified not only with the manufac-turer’s vehicles but with other makes and models as well.”

The state-of-the-art fa-cility spans 28,000 square feet and will carry a full selection of Kia vehicles – from compact cars to full-size SUVs. “Not only does Kia back every vehicle with a 10-year, 100,000-mile warranty, they are also some of the safest and most fuel-efficient ve-hicles on the road,” Myers said. “Most of the vehi-cles have a five-star safe-ty rating and have been awarded with the IIHS [Insurance Institute for Highway Safety] top safe-ty rating. Seven of their models get over 30 mpg.”

The Kia dealership will offer the Crain Automo-tive Team Commitment: a 100-year, 100,000-mile

warranty on every new and used vehicle sold; a 100-hour “love it or leave it” exchange policy; and a 100 percent low price guarantee.

Crain broke ground on the new dealership in Au-gust 2013. It is the sec-ond Kia dealership for the company; the first is located in North Lit-tle Rock, which opened in 2002.

“We believe in the Kia brand and their vision,” said Crain Automotive President Chris Crain. “The product is fantas-tic; it’s safe, offers the lat-est in technology, and is competitively priced. We look forward to contin-ued growth in the Con-way area.”

Crain Buick GMC is one of the most successful Crain franchises and is among the top 12 Buick GMC dealers in the na-tion. Jay Myers hopes to continue this success with Crain Kia.

“One of the things we pride ourselves on is that we don’t just work in Con-way and Faulkner Coun-ty,” he said. “This is home. Our kids go to school here and play little league and soccer here. We invest in this community because it’s important to us.

“So come see us! The facility is impressive, and Kia makes a great prod-uct.”

About Crain Automo-tive

The Crain Compa-nies began as “Paul Crain Wholesale” in Searcy, Arkansas, in the early 1950s. Three generations of Crains joined the fam-ily business after gradu-ation from the Universi-ty of Arkansas, including current president Chris Crain in 1994.

“Mr. Paul,” Larry Crain Sr.’s father, start-ed out “peddling” tire re-pair items, health and beauty aids, fishing tack-le, and other general mer-

chandise out of the trunk of his car. His custom-ers were primarily small-town “mom and pop” gro-cery stores and service stations.

Crain’s business grew first into a van and lat-er to a small “warehouse” (also his garage). He as-sociated with other ped-dlers, namely Hartsell Capps and Wendal Pet-tus. The seat-of-the-pants operation grew up to the time Larry Crain Sr. came on scene in 1966. Lar-ry had graduated from the University of Arkan-sas with an accounting degree, passed the CPA exam, and worked three years for the Peat Mar-wick Mitchell accounting firm. He then decided he wanted to go into busi-ness for himself.

In 1966, the company – then known as Crain Sales Company – built a sprawling, 10,000-square-feet headquarters on Highway 36 in Searcy,

which in an expanded form (50,000-square-feet) served as the company’s headquarters and main distribution facility until July 1992 when the com-pany moved to the new office and warehouse in North Little Rock.

Beginning in the ear-ly 1980s, the company saw an industry trend and customer need for freestanding auto stores and opened its first Kar-Pro auto parts store in Searcy. During the 1980s and up until 2000, Crain expanded by acquisition and new locations to more than 16 locations. In Sep-tember 2000, a majority of the automotive parts distribution facility was merged into the O’Reilly Auto Parts operation.

In 1990, The Crain Companies purchased a Ford Dealership in Ben-ton, Arkansas, and re-named it Freeway Ford Lincoln Mercury. In 1992, a sister dealership in Memphis was purchased and operated as Midway Ford. In 1999, Crain ac-quired the Landers North Facility from United Auto Group and was award-

ed the Kia franchise. The Buick GMC dealer-ship in Conway was pur-chased from Jodie Brown 11 years ago.

Later that year Crain acquired Service Chevro-let Oldsmobile from Cliff Peck, and Crain sold Mid-way Ford in Memphis to United Auto Group to fo-cus on growing the cen-tral Arkansas market. Crain began operating all dealerships under the Crain Automotive Team umbrella as Crain deal-erships. Throughout the next decade Crain fur-ther expanded the dealer-ship operations to include multiple dealership loca-tions and an RV store.

Led by company Presi-dent Chris Crain, in Janu-ary of this year, the Crain Team acquired two Hyun-dai dealerships in North-west Arkansas mark-ing their first venture in that part of the state. The company purchased a Buick GMC dealership in Springdale in October 2013. Many stores have been recently relocated or renovated to meet the changing needs of its val-ued customers.

Faulkner County Business Journal To subscribe call (501) 329-2927 • Log Cabin Democrat4D — Sunday, June 15, 2014

COVER STORY

Crain Kia dealership opens June 18‘The product is fantastic; it’s

safe, offers the latest in technol-ogy, and is competitively priced. We look forward to the contin-ued growth in the Conway area.’

—Crain Automotive President Chris Crain

Faulkner County Business Journal To subscribe call (501) 329-2927 • Log Cabin Democrat6D — Sunday, June 15, 2014

Days LaGentry Lake Robins Lake

Carol-danLake

Laurel Park

Moun

Airport Park

Gatlin Park

Fifth Avenue Park

CollegeHendrix

Central ArkansasUniversity Of

Baptist CollegeCentral

Cantrell FieldDennis F

ClubValley GolfCentennial

Cadron Valley Country Club

ClubCountryConway

Oak Grove Cemetery

Tyler

St

Oak St

Skyline Dr

E Oak St

S Sa

lem R

d

Caldwell St

S Harkrider St

Oak St

Dona

ghey

Ave

Dona

ghey

AveMeadowlake Rd

Ar-365 S

Highway 60 W

Salem

Rd

Harkrider St

Prince St

Old Morrilton Hwy

Dave Ward Dr

60

365

60

266

319

60

365

286

60

60

60

286

286286

64

65

65

65

64

64

65

40

40

40

Brumley

Gleason

Conway

2910 Baxter855 Burrow Ave.

1025 Burrow Ave.

5430 Lost Canyon

13 Richland Hills

TOP 5 RESIDENTIAL HOME SALES

A fast-growing popu-lation and strong econo-my have long been char-acteristics of Conway, Arkansas. Recent reports from the U.S. Census Bu-reau and POLICOM, an organization that stud-ies the dynamics of local economies, support these attributes of the city of 60,000.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Con-way is the fastest-grow-ing big city in Arkansas. The Census defines big cities as having a popu-lation of 50,000 or more. Brad Lacy, president and CEO of the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce,

said this growth is driv-en by a strong economy.

“Conway and central Arkansas continue to see national recognition for the strength of our local economy,” Lacy said. “A diversity of jobs in edu-cation, health care, man-ufacturing, technolo-gy, energy, government, and an emerging start-up community combine to provide our residents with a variety of employ-ment options.

“The availability of these jobs is the key driver in our continued residential growth – a trend that has occurred for several decades.”

Conway’s population grew at a rate of 8.3 per-cent from 2010-2013. The Washington Post pulled the data from the census and compiled a map showing the fastest-growing large city in ev-ery state over this three-year period. Author Niraj Chokshi wrote that the longer time span “offers a more telling look at places that are experi-encing sustained growth, rather than an unusual-ly strong year.”

Arkansas’s fastest-growing city makes up the 28th strongest met-ro area in the country. With 381 Metropolitan

Statistical Areas in the U.S., the Little Rock – North Little Rock – Con-way MSA is in the top 10 percent. The ranking comes from POLICOM’s 2014 economic strength report, which measures the economic conditions of the United States’ metropolitan and micro-politan statistical areas.

According to POLI-COM, the highest-ranked areas have experienced “rapid, consistent growth in both size and quali-ty for an extended peri-od of time.” POLICOM has created economic strength rankings for all Metropolitan Statistical

Areas since 1996 and all Micropolitan Statistical Areas since they were established in 2002.

The report defines economic strength as “the long-term tendency for an area to consistent-ly grow in both size and quality.”

To measure how the economy in each area has behaved, POLICOM used three groups of sec-tors to determine eco-nomic strength:

1. Group 1 sectors reflect the overall growth in size and quality. The quality of an economy is based on what people earn, which influences a

population’s standard of living.

2. Group 2 sectors reflect how the economy behaves. It takes into ac-count the growth or de-cline of the retail and construction industries, which are typically re-active to the condition of the economy.

3. Group 3 sectors examine growth in Wel-fare and Medicaid, which reflects a poor economy.

Read more about POLICOM’s methodol-ogy and view the entire list of economic strength rankings over the last decade at POLICOM.com.

Fast-growing population fueled by strong economy

1. 5430 Lost Canyon: $496,000; 4 bed, 4 bath, 4 half bath;

in The Reserve at Centennial Subdivision; 3,900 square feet;

$127.18 per square foot; built in 2014.

2. 13 Richland Hills Drive: 362,500; 4 bed, 3 bath, 1 half bath;

in Richland Hills Subdivision; 4,139 square feet; $87.58 per

square foot; built in 1991.

3. 855 Burrow Ave.: $353,200 3 bed, 2 bath; in The Village at

Hendrix Subdivision; 1,941 square feet; $181.97 per square foot;

built in 2014.

4. 1025 Burrow Ave.: $343,910; 3 bed, 2 bath, 1 half bath; in

The Village at Hendrix Subdivision; 1,745 square feet; $197.08

per square foot; built in 2014.

5. 2910 Baxter: $282,000; 5 bed, 3 bath, 1 half bath; in Royal

Oaks Subdivision; 3,389 square feet; $83.21 per square foot;

built in 1994.

Faulkner County Business Journal Sunday, June 15, 2014 — 7D Log Cabin Democrat • Find our online edition at www.thecabin.net

By RogeR Lewis

Government servic-es such as streets and roads, police protection, fire departments and court systems are paid for in large part by sales taxes. Over the past two years, sales tax revenue has not grown to match the increased demand for services.

In fact, for the first three months of 2014, sales tax revenue for Conway actually de-clined by 1.5 percent. Faulkner County and other municipalities in the county are also de-pendent on sales taxes to fund their budgets. For the first quarter in 2015, sales tax revenue for the county was down 0.1 per-cent.

The Arkansas sales tax rate is 6.5 percent. Conway adds 1.75 per-cent, and Faulkner County adds 0.5 per-cent bringing the total for purchases in Conway to 8.75 percent. Sales tax rates for Arkansas citizens are among the highest in the nation. Nearly all of the incor-porated municipalities in Faulkner County have local sales tax rates that vary from 1-2 percent.

Of Conway’s 1.75 per-cent, 1 percent goes to the general fund for cur-rent operations and 0.75 percent to retiring bonds and capital improve-ments. The county’s 0.5 percent is split between roads and the judicial system.

Conway’s 1 percent sales tax generates ap-

proximately $13 million per year, which provides almost half (45 percent) of the city’s operating budget. The county’s half percent generates ap-proximately $8 million per year, which covers 22 percent of its budget.

Flat receipts - the cause

Why are sales tax rev-enues not growing, which is not just a Conway phe-nomenon but a nation-al problem as well? Busi-ness seems to be good, the work force has ex-panded, unemployment is lower, automobile and restaurant sales are up. However, consumers are turning more and more to the Internet (e-com-merce) to purchase dura-ble goods.

The net offers conve-nience, a wider selection of goods and no sales taxes on many purchas-es. It is estimated that in 2012, 6 percent of all retail sales were online ($225 billion). This is projected to increase by 2017 to 10.7 percent or $370 billion.

Vendors are not re-quired to collect sales taxes on Internet sales unless the vendor has a physical presence in the state. If you buy online from Walmart, Sears, Best Buy or Barnes and Noble, for example, you will be charged sales tax because they have brick and mortar stores in Ar-kansas or a presence in some way. But if you buy from Amazon, the largest online vendor in the world, or other on-

line vendors that have no presence in Arkansas, sales taxes are not col-lected.

Residents are sup-posed to voluntarily pay sales tax on online pur-chases, but few do. Pub-lic institutions and busi-nesses are audited, and they do pay sales taxes on these purchases.

Amazon reported that its customers ordered 37 million items (428 items per second for 24 hours) on Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanks-giving, the busiest e-commerce shopping day of the year. That figure is a healthy 39 percent higher than last year’s peak day.

Holiday sales be-tween Thanksgiving and the end of the year account for 20 percent of the retail industry’s annual sales on aver-age. Analysts who track Christmas holiday sales state that 26 percent of 2012 sales were online. For 2013, the projected percentage is 35.

The solutionStarting in 1992, a se-

ries of lawsuits led to The Internet Tax Free-dom Act in 1998. (Initial-ly the act banned taxing Internet access and In-ternet-only taxes — but a series of court cases ex-tended it to all Internet purchases for vendors with no presence in the state of the sale origin.)

In November 2014, the Internet Tax Free-dom Act expires. There is strong sentiment not to extend this act; but not

extending the act does not solve the problem of how states will collect the tax, particularly at the local level.

Arkansas U.S. Rep-resentative Steve Wom-ack introduced the Mar-ket Place Fairness Act of 2013 that grants states the authority to compel online and catalog retail-ers to collect sales tax at the time of a transac-tion.

However, there is a caveat: States are only granted this authority after they have simpli-fied their sales tax laws so that vendors do not have to collect a differ-ent rate for each location in the state.

There are several op-tions for states to accom-plish this. This Market Place Fairness Act has bipartisan support and the support of major re-tailers such as Walmart, Best Buy and Barnes and Noble.

The bill has passed the Senate but languish-es in the House of Rep-resentatives. Dr. Dean Kumpuris, one of Lit-tle Rock’s city directors, had an excellent editori-al piece on this issue in the May 29, 2014 Arkan-sas Democrat Gazette. I highly recommend this article.

You can obtain sales tax data for all incorpo-rated cities in Faulkner County by going to the Pulse of Conway web-site (www.pulseofcon-way.com).

I thank my friend Chris Spatz for editing and helping me with this article.

Unemployment RateApril

Seasonally AdjustedUS ............................................ 6.3%Arkansas .................................. 6.6%

Not Seasonally AdjustedUS ............................................ 5.9%Arkansas .................................. 6.1%Faulkner County ...................... 5.8%Conway ..................................... 5.8%Sales Tax Collections

Conway*March

2014 .............................$2,122,6592013 .............................$1,988,118Percent Change -6.8%

Year to Date (March)2014 .............................$5,453,6072013 .............................$5,538,107Percent Change -1.5%

Annual2013 ...........................$23,235,8912012 ...........................$22,944,163Percent Change 1.3%*Tax Rate 1.75%

Faulkner County*March

2014 ................................ $791,1622013 ................................ $728,079Percent Change 8.7%

Year to Date (March)2014 .............................$2,033,9132013 .............................$2,036,049Percent Change -0.1%

Annual2013 .............................$8,588,8352012 .............................$8,465,686Percent Change 1.5%*Tax Rate 0.5%Restaurant Sales*

April2014 ...........................$15,256,6782013 ...........................$14,419,219Percent Change 5.8%

Year to Date (April)2014 ...........................$56,975,6102013 ...........................$54,620,119Percent Change % 4.3

Annual Sales 2013 .........................$164,989,5862012 .........................$161,318,563Percent Change 2.3%*Including mixed drink salesHotel Sales

April2014 .............................$1,766,7122013 .............................$2,085,020Percent Change -15.3%

Year to Date (April)2014 .............................$5,964,7192013 .............................$5,914,218Percent Change 0.9%

Annual Sales2013 ...........................$18,556,9112012 ...........................$18,683,676Percent Change -0.7%Conway Building Permits

Single Family HomesYear to Date (May)

2014 ................................49 Permits2013 ................................58 PermitsPercent Change -15.5%

Annual2013 ............................. 147 Permits2012 ............................. 186 Permits

2011 ............................. 153 PermitsPercent Change 2013-2012 -21.0%

Average Construction Cost*Annual

2013 ................................ $228,2752012 ................................ $207,5372011 ............................... $204,387Percent Change 2013-2012 10.0%*Not including land or lot improve-ments

Average Square Footage*Annual

2013 .......................................3,0022012 .......................................2,9102011 .......................................2,814Percent Change 2013-2012 3.2%

Average Construction Cost Per Square Foot*

Annual2013 .....................................$76.042012 .....................................$71.332011 .....................................$72.64Percent Change 8i2013-2012 6.6%%* Total under roofLottery Sales

Faulkner CountyMay

2014 .............................$1,169,9042013 .............................$1,569,620Percent Change -25.5%

Year to Date (May)2014 .............................$6,416,4382013 .............................$7,586,800Percent Change -%15.4

Annual2013 ...........................$17,038,2772012 ...........................$16,943,909Percent Change .06%

Total StateMay

2014 ...........................$33,516,6382013 ...........................$42,313,617Percent Change -20.8%

Year to Date (May)2014 .........................$181,399,4062013 .........................$202,126,566Percent Change -10.3%

Annual 2013 .........................$432,932,7992012 ........................$452,245,215Percent Change -4.3%Natural Gas

Severance TaxDistribution

ConwayYear to Date (May)

2014 ................................ $104,8932013 .................................. $84,144Percent Change 24.7%

Annual2013 ................................ $276,5232012 ................................ $162,457Percent Change 70.2%

Faulkner CountyYear to Date (May)

2014 .................................. $85,3582013 .................................. $68,267Percent Change 25.0%

Annual2013 ................................ $224,4552012 ................................ $131,418Percent Change 70.8%

Information provided by pulseofconway.com

economicglance Sales tax revenue: flat, flat, flat