Fort Smith suspends sewer rate increase for Arcoma for 21 days pending new service agreement

The Fort Smith City Board of Directors on June 3 adopted an ordinance to suspend the June 1 sewer rate increase as it applies to the Town of Arcoma for 21 days while city staff and Arcoma negotiate a new wholesale wastewater services agreement.

The suspension passed on a 5–2 roll call and the board also approved an emergency clause by the same margin. The board had directed staff at a May 27 study session to work with Arcoma on a revised agreement.

The suspension matters because Arcoma officials and Fort Smith staff presented sharply different customer-bill calculations during the board discussion. Joshua Johnson, mayor of Arcoma, said his town’s calculation averaged a year’s flow to estimate per-customer impacts. Director Christina Kasaves flagged a much larger number raised earlier in public comments, saying, “our residents can't…