Tontitown, Bethel Heights Appetizing for Springdale (OPINION)

First Security Bank wants to de-annex nearly 40 acres out of Tontitown and have it re-annexed into Springdale. According to published reports, the bank is worried Tontitown can’t provide adequate services and would like its property inside Springdale’s bailiwick.

Meanwhile, two property owners in Bethel Heights also want to annex into Springdale.

The City Council said it would be willing to take hold of the properties, and while that would be an important first step — if it’s ever taken — it most certainly shouldn’t be the last. Springdale should go ahead and swallow all of Bethel Heights and Tontitown to become the largest city in Northwest Arkansas.

And here’s why.

Bethel Heights would benefit from enhanced city services, and its commercial tax base along U.S. 71B would be good for Springdale coffers. As for Tontitown, well, enough is enough. Like a slow drip of hydrochloric acid, bad news has trickled out of there for years, and 2014 is no exception.

The City Council recently booted the long-standing volunteer firefighters and replaced them with a paid city department. As a presumptive act of vengeance, one of the aggrieved volunteer firemen is running for mayor. Saying he didn’t live in Tontitown, a resident asked the court to scratch him from the ballot, but he’s been cleared to run.

This is just the latest political farce in a town that’s staged plenty of them. Will it ever end? Probably not. That’s why the bank’s trying to jump ship.

As the proposed annexations unfold, there’s a few things to consider. Tontitown buys water from Springdale. The Tontitown zip code is a Springdale zip code. Its kids attend Springdale schools. Ditto for Bethel Heights, with the exception that some kids go to Rogers.

Should Springdale gobble up its neighbors to the north and west? Pass the salt and pepper, please.