ROGERS -- The city is looking to grow west, taking in rural areas where Rogers can offer essential services, Mayor Greg Hines said Wednesday.
"These are areas that are essentially surrounded by the city of Rogers," Hines said. "A lot of people think they live in Rogers now."
Hines said the City Council will consider a pair of annexation ordinances on Tuesday, calling for a special election to annex areas east and west of Arkansas 112. There are four areas with about 4,000 acres being considered for annexation, Hines said.
If the council approves the ordinances, a special election will be held Nov. 14 to decide the issue, he said.
State law provides that voters in the areas proposed for annexation and city residents are eligible to vote, Hines said. The Benton County Clerk's Office made a rough estimate of about 200 voters in the annexation areas. Rogers has more than 42,000 registered voters.
"It's one election and all the votes will be counted together," Hines said.
The decision to try and annex the areas being considered was prompted by a number of recent voluntary annexations, Hines said. The Scissortail subdivision off Haxton Road was one and the Bentonville School District also recently sought the annexation of land the district purchased as a potential site for a new school, he said. The city would rather have the entire area come in at once to ease the city's problems in extending infrastructure, particularly water and sewer service, he said.
"This is already in Rogers' water service area," he said. "That's as far as we serve and that's as far west as we'll ever go."
Property now used for agriculture will remain unchanged if the annexation is approved, Hines said. It was the pace of residential development in the area that persuaded him annexation makes sense.
Hines acknowledged property taxes will increase if the area is annexed. He said the city's 3.8 mills of property tax will then apply to property in the annexed areas. County Assessor Roderick Grieve said taxes would increase by 6 to 7 percent in the area if the annexation is approved. One parcel he checked at random would see property taxes go from $160 a year to $173. The millage rate would depend on which school district the property is in, Grieve said.
County Judge Barry Moehring said the annexation won't greatly impact county government.
"The most immediate impact is there will be a few fewer miles of roads to take care of," Moehring said. "I don't know that it has a huge impact on our day-to-day operations."
NW News on 08/17/2017