During Thursday night’s Mountain Home City Council meeting, the Council heard recommendations from Garver representative Kirby Rowland on what the city must do to comply with Arkansas Act 605, passed by the legislature in 2021.
Act 605 regulates how municipalities manage and operate their water systems. It mandates by 2026 that water and wastewater systems revenues operate independently. Currently, the city’s water revenues help fund the wastewater deficits, which the Council has been working towards remedying. Based on Act 605, instead of having seven years to reach revenue independence, the wastewater side must be financially independent of water revenues by 2026.
Based on the 2022 audit, Rowland recommends the city continue to raise the rate per the consumer price index (CPI) along with a $5-8 monthly increase, depending on a customer’s usage, to meet the 2026 requirement. These numbers could change based on the 2023 audit. Councilmember Paige Evans stressed to the public the Council has been looking for other ways to solve the revenue deficit but has been unable to come up with solutions to satisfy the mandate.
If the city cannot meet the mandate, in a worst-case scenario, the state could come in and designate the city’s water system in distress and have an outside entity come in, and the city could lose control of setting rates. Rowland stated the system is in good shape and does not see it as an issue as long as the Council continues with the proposed recommendations.
The Council is expected to vote on an ordinance on this issue at the Feb. 15 meeting.
In other business, the Council heard a presentation from Mayor Hillrey Adams stating the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) was interested in purchasing the building currently occupied by the Mountain Home Police Department at the end of 7th Street. The AGFC has been interested in the property since the summer of 2023 and has presented a letter of intent to the city to purchase the building for $898,000 and seven acres of land along U.S. Highway 62 West worth approximately $220,000. Adams stated there had been discussions to move the police department to a more central location where they were more visible to the public.
The AGFC currently resides in an old bank building on Church Street behind the square. If the Church Street building owner agrees to sell the building to the city for $500,000, it would give the police department an additional 3,000 square feet of space to operate, and they would be more visible to the community. Renovations to the Church Street Building would cost approximately $750,000. Still, Adams states there would be funds to cover the project with the help of leftover funds from the sale and public safety funds yet to be allocated in the 2024 budget.
The Council approved the letter of intent from the AGFC, and it will be placed on their agenda in their next meeting on Feb. 15. Adams states the Council should see a response from the AGFC at their next meeting.
The Council also approved a resolution to designate economic development as a professional service. This will allow the city to send a request for qualifications (RFQ) to service providers who want to assist the city in economic development. Adams stated he planned on asking for some of the council members’ assistance to decide what the city needs to put into the RFQ. When asked, Adams stated a service provider for economic development could be the local chamber of commerce, or it could be another third party the Council could choose to work with, and it would be treated just as any other service provider to the city, such as broadband, engineering or architecture.
The Council also approved an amending resolution to adopt the final 2023 budget after all monies for each expenditure have been applied appropriately. This is the annual budget clean-up, including actual figures and carryovers going in and out.
At the end of the meeting, Adams recognized Fire Chief Kris Quick for this 30 years of service to the city.
The next meeting will be held Feb. 15 at 5.
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