Hot Springs city manager touts water project, infrastructure and downtown revival in 2026 state-of-the-city

City Manager Bill Burrow delivered the state-of-the-city report at the Feb. 17 board meeting, outlining major projects and revenue drivers and framing 2025 as a year of infrastructure investment and downtown momentum.

Burrow highlighted the Lake Ouachita water supply project as a decades-long, $150,000,000 effort nearing completion and cited ongoing wastewater and system projects the city lists at roughly $78,000,000. He reviewed 2025 capital work including new milling and paving, sidewalk rehabilitation, and a $2,380,000 federal RAISE grant to build a multimodal trail connecting neighborhoods.

The manager also listed workforce changes and internal operations: recent hires and promotions across public safety, utilities and parks; the retirement of a long-serving Utility Billing employee; purchases of two former Weyerhaeuser properties to consolidate storage and operations; and programmatic investments such as the Community Resource Center at 109 Hobson Avenue, which Burrow described as primary emergency warming/cooling shelter and a one-stop social services hub.

On local economics, Burrow noted Oak Lawn gaming generated approximately $27,190,000 in tax revenue in 2025 and that lodging and prepared-food receipts reached roughly $10,200,000, reinforcing a tax base that supports general and public-safety levies. He closed by reiterating the board’s 2026 priorities—completing remediation of the old hospital site, advancing the Gulf of Basin compliance work, implementing parts of the sports-recreation master plan and developing an airport terminal master plan.

Burrow’s remarks framed the city’s work as balancing historic downtown character with targeted growth and infrastructure to support tourism, housing and public safety.