Alice L. Walton Foundation offers Bentonville $239 million loan for sewer upgrades

The Alice L. Walton Foundation has proposed providing Bentonville with a $239 million line of credit to pay for sewer infrastructure upgrades to meet projected demand amid rapid population growth.

City leaders met Thursday (Dec. 4) to discuss the foundation’s proposal. The loan would have a 5% interest rate and would be expected to be repaid by 2040 but no later than 2045. The city previously adopted a $239 million, 10-year program to expand sewer infrastructure. A decision has yet to be made on the proposal.

The Alice L. Walton Foundation issued the following statement Friday (Dec. 5).

“Alice L. Walton Foundation has provided the city of Bentonville with a proposed funding option for addressing the current wastewater capacity issues across Bentonville. The foundation submitted this proposal to the city of Bentonville based on its ongoing commitment to Bentonville and its intent to be a supportive resource for the implementation of Plan Bentonville.

“The foundation has submitted this proposal as one option for the city of Bentonville to review as part of a thorough review of all options for addressing the current challenges. The foundation believes that civic leaders and the community should determine the best path forward based on all available options.”

The city’s projections for sewer infrastructure upgrades would serve a 2050 population of approximately 217,000 residents, or more than triple the city’s population, records show. Its $239 million program doesn’t include the $153 million in capacity upgrades planned for its wastewater treatment plant or the city’s $68 million share of capacity upgrades to the Northwest Arkansas Conservation Authority wastewater treatment plant.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Bentonville’s population rose by 3.5% from 59,710 in 2023 to 61,791 in 2024. Among cities with at least 20,000 residents, Bentonville is the state’s second-fastest growing city. It added 2,081 people from 2023 to 2024, the largest numeric increase in Arkansas over this period. Bentonville’s population growth was the state’s fastest from 2020 to 2024, with a 14% growth rate.

During this period, it added 7,575 people and was the 113th-fastest growing U.S. city.
Mark Beauchamp, president of Utility Financial Solutions, completed a cost analysis for the city that shows growth is putting pressure on the city’s sewer system, which is nearing capacity and limiting the city’s ability to approve new projects. The lines and lift stations that transport wastewater to the treatment plant will need to be expanded. These upgrades were identified in the city’s 10-year program.

According to Beauchamp’s Nov. 20 report, the city should adopt a wastewater development fee program to pay for the work. The fees are one-time payments that new utility customers pay, and receipts can only be used for growth-related sewer infrastructure expansion. The city would use receipts to pay off the foundation’s loan.

For 2026, the development fee was proposed to start at $7,867 per equivalent residential unit, or meter. The fee would be adjusted annually for inflation and operational cost increases based on the consumer price index for all urban consumers: water and sewer and trash collection services in U.S. cities. The fee should be updated at least every three years to reflect changes in construction costs, population growth and system demands.

The report shows the development fees can only cover the growth-related portion of the expansion work. The fee-eligible portion of the total $459.65 million project, which includes the wastewater plant upgrades, is $312.88 million. The remaining $146.77 million would be paid for through rates.