FORT SMITH, Ark. — The feds aren’t giving the city of Fort Smith a break on the estimated $480 million consent decree despite the impact of historic flooding in 2019 and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The lack of a shelter-in-place order by Gov. Asa Hutchinson didn’t help the city’s case.
City Administrator Carl Geffken told the Fort Smith Board of Directors at the regular meeting Tuesday night (April 21) that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice decided to not provide the city consent decree relief.
After years of failing to maintain water and sewer infrastructure to federal standards, the city entered into a federal consent decree with the EPA and DOJ in late 2014. The consent decree requires the city to make an estimated $480 million worth of sewer upgrades over the course of 12 years. Funding for consent decree work has come in part from water and sewer bill increases, which are up 167% since 2015. Funding for water and sewer work also comes from bonds supported by sales tax revenue and revenue from wholesale water buyers.
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