Senator John Boozman and Representative Rick Crawford
Several local projects, including a major water project that would benefit the city of Mountain Home and a large part of Baxter County, have been included in appropriation requests by Arkansas legislators. Both Senator John Boozman and Representative Rick Crawford have the water project in their list of requests.
The requests were made this spring to their respective Appropriations Committee in hopes the projects can receive funding in next fiscal year’s appropriations bills.
The Mountain Home water project is one that would benefit approximately 32,000 people along with businesses and industrial plants. That amounts to about 75% of Baxter County. Both Boozman and Crawford have asked for $1.25 million for the project.
Mountain Home Mayor Hillrey Adams told KTLO, Classic Hits and The Boot News last summer the current water intake system on Lake Norfork is over 50 years old and is having mechanical issues. The project, with a price tag of $60-70 million, has been in the works for a number of years. Boozman toured the current intake system last summer with the Mountain Home mayor.
Another project Boozman is hoping to fund is the expansion of a healthcare education facility at ASU-Mountain Home to develop additional healthcare professionals in the area. The senator is asking for $6 million for that project.
Crawford has two other requests that would affect Boone County. One is a request for just over $1 million for an electronic medical records system update at North Arkansas Regional Medical Center. The other request for $5 million would include improvements to the U.S. Highway 412 corridor, including in Boone County.
There is no guarantee the requests will be funded, and if they are, at what level.
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