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Fort Smith board rejects proposed wastewater rate plans for Town of Arcoma; defaults to higher rate if no agreement
Summary
After lengthy debate, the Fort Smith Board of Directors declined two staff-proposed rate options for wholesale wastewater service to the Town of Arcoma and did not adopt an alternative; staff had warned a default, higher rate would apply if no agreement is reached.
The Fort Smith Board of Directors on June 17 declined two proposed five-year rate agreements for wholesale wastewater service to the Town of Arcoma after roughly two hours of questions and public comment.
City staff had offered two alternatives: option 2A, a rate of $3.48 per hundred cubic feet (CCF) based on Fort Smith’s 2024 treatment cost plus a 10% return on investment; and option 2B, a $5.68-per-CCF rate that added a 39% inflow-and-infiltration (I&I) adjustment to reflect shared system losses. Staff recommended option 2A as “defensible” and said it did not include an I&I component because that allocation was difficult to quantify.
The board first voted on a motion to adopt option 2A. That motion failed on a 3-3 roll call vote (Directors George Gitsavas, Good and Kemp voting yes; Directors Christina Gitsavas, Settle and Neil Martin voting no). A subsequent motion to adopt option 2B failed 1-5 (Kemp voting yes; five directors voting no). City staff had told the board that if no agreement is reached the rate for services to Arcoma will default to $8.75 per CCF as of June 22.
Why it matters: Fort Smith treats Arcoma’s sewage at its P Street facility under a wholesale arrangement.…
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