Mississippi County, Arkansas; Quorum Court of Mississippi County, Arkansas; Randy Carney

Summary

The court affirmed a permanent injunction preventing a special election on a sales-and-use-tax amendment and bonds for a new courthouse in Blytheville. It held that the plain language of Act 81 of 1901 requires county revenue to benefit only the judicial district in which it arises, that the Act was not superseded by more general sales-tax statutes, and that the ordinances and resolution together would authorize an illegal exaction. Justice Hart, dissenting, would have held that courthouse construction is a countywide purpose and that the Act does not prevent a countywide tax from funding it.