Senate committee advances four-bill levy-district package to increase transparency and allow consolidation

The Senate Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development committee on Tuesday approved a package of four bills designed to clarify how Arkansas levy and drainage districts report finances, allow consolidation of inactive districts, provide a statutory dissolution process and update century-old per-acre assessment caps.

Mark Whitmore, who identified himself as representing the Association of Ash (Ark) Hill Counties, told the committee the bills grew from a task force formed after a major Arkansas River flood. Whitmore said the measures combine the best elements of county clerk and county collector reporting and will send April 1 filings to the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC) and the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management (ADAM) to make assessments, meeting notices and board-member information more accessible.

"Levy and levies are private entities. They're not government entities," Whitmore said while explaining the reporting changes and why the task force recommended cross‑pollinating the two county reports. He added the reforms are intended to let property owners see how assessments are calculated and when boards meet.

Representative Hillman, who ran the bills in place of an absent sponsor, said some levy districts have not met in years and that consolidation and a dissolution pathway will help remove ‘‘humps of dirt’’ from the rolls and create functioning successor districts where needed. Committee members asked how assets and debts would be treated in a dissolution; committee witnesses compared the process to corporate dissolution — creditors and bond obligations would be paid first and any remaining funds would revert to members or transfer to a successor district.

Lawmakers pressed for clarity on scope. Witnesses said no authoritative statewide count of every levy district exists; ANRC is cataloging records and the Arkansas River region alone contains ‘‘north of’’ about 60 districts, though records dating to the 1920s complicate inventory. Committee proponents said the bills also incorporate public‑records provisions introduced in earlier sessions so filings at the county level will also be available to ANRC and ADAM.

A fourth bill in the package updates assessment authority for a narrow class of older districts that historically were limited to 25¢ an acre. Sponsors argued indexing the cap to roughly $2.50 an acre reflects inflation since those early statutes and gives functioning districts a practical revenue tool for maintenance and flood response. Representative Hillman said the authorization is not an automatic increase; districts would have the capacity to assess up to the new limit, and local boards would still determine rates.

Each of the four bills was taken by voice vote after limited committee questioning. The chair announced each bill had passed. The package’s proponents said the bills aim to improve transparency, reduce overlapping and dormant entities and better position districts to respond to flood risk; opponents raised no recorded public testimony against the measures.

The bills now proceed through the Senate process.