Fort Smith Board raises some water system fees, approves parking meter plan

The Fort Smith Board of Directors on Tuesday (May 7) approved raising a broad set of fees for everything from turning on service to insufficient funds charges. The board also voted to halt downtown parking meter use until Jan. 3.

City officials said early 2009 was the last time a broad fee increase was implemented.

The first ordinance, passed unanimously at the board’s regular meeting, raises fees for everything from turning on service to insufficient funds charges.
The new charges are:
• Account activation fee from $30 to $40
• Account ownership transfer fee from $30 to $40
• Connection/reconnection fee (inside the city) from $30 to $40
• Connection/reconnection fee (outside the city) from $30 to $50
• Same day turn on/off fee (inside the city) set at $50 (There was no fee prior to this ordinance.)
• Same day turn on/off fee (outside the city) set at $60 from nonexistent
• After-hours reconnection fee (inside the city) from $60 to $75
• After-hours reconnection fee (outside the city) from $60 to 90
• Disconnection notice fee $5 to $7.50
• Insufficient check return fee from $29 to actual cost to the city

City directors also passed an ordinance raising deposit fees by customer class that shall be assessed to and paid by all customers for water, sewer and solid waste utilities. The ordinance also changes the amount of time a deposit is held to 24 months from 12 months.

If an account becomes delinquent and the utility service is terminated for non-payment, the deposit will be applied to the account to cover any past due amount. A new deposit shall be required to reactivate an account for service previously discontinued for non-payment, the ordinance states.

Prior to the new ordinance, deposits for most classes were $50. Following is the new deposit structure.
• Residential, owner occupied – $100
• Residential, renter – $125
• Commercial – $300
• Industrial – $1,000
• Irrigation, all classes – $100
• Builder-construction – $100

The ordinance also changes deposits for hydrant meters from $150 to $500. The ordinance passed with a vote of six to one with Director Kevin Settle voting against it.

“We are going from $80 to $140 for someone to set up and live in our city,” Settle said. “We are adding more and more layers to make it more difficult to set up living in Fort Smith.”

In other business, the board also approved a resolution waiving downtown parking meter use from Wednesday (May 8) to Jan. 3.

Joshua Robertson, Fort Smith’s deputy director of business administration, told the board at a study session April 23 the city has 315 total meters and 285 active meters. He said some meters were removed for permitted parking, and some meters are not working. Meter revenue has averaged just under $66,000 a year in the past three years, with revenue in 2021 totaling $70,197, 2022 revenue at $61,695, and 2023 revenue at $65,946, according to Robertson.

Some members of the Fort Smith Board of Directors wanted the meters removed, so the city waived downtown Fort Smith parking meter fees between Nov. 24, 2023, and March 31, 2024. The time without fees was intended to allow the Fort Smith Police Department to study the impact on parking, particularly the rate of turnover with parking spaces along Garrison Avenue, the main road in downtown Fort Smith.

“According to their findings from March 1 to March 29, the Police Department observed 792 vehicles. Of the 792 vehicles, 701 were parked for less than one hour, and 91 were parked for more than one hour. Of the 91 vehicles, the average time parked was two hours,” noted a summary provided to the Fort Smith Board for its Tuesday (April 23) study session. “During the entire time parking fees were waived, no parking complaints were received. Based on this data, parking meters may be removed with little to no impact to our businesses.”