Fort Smith Board set to vote on funding Parrot Island water slide installation

The Fort Smith Board of Directors is on track to consider at its Jan. 20 regular meeting a $2.6 million plan that would install five slides at Parrot Island Waterpark. The city has already spent or obligated $3.55 million on the slide expansion.

The board during a Tuesday (Jan. 13) study session debated the effort to spend more money on installing the water slides. The water slides initially were to cost the city of Fort Smith $4.2 million.

Acting City Administrator Jeff Dingman told the board Oct. 21 that the low bid to install the slides was $2.8 million, which would push the total cost to acquire, assemble, and install the slides to around $6.35 million, well beyond the board-approved budget of $4.2 million.

In a Jan. 7 memo to the board, Dingman said Director Lee Kemp and city staff have worked to find a lower cost to install the slides and reallocate funds to help pay for the work. A new cost, which includes slide installation, pumps and pipes, fencing, sidewalks, and landscaping, is around $2.6 million.

In his memo, Dingman said the city has all but an estimated $924,935 to fully fund the $2.6 million. He suggested the $924,935 could be pulled from the city’s parks and recreation department’s capital budget.

Director Jared Rego moved to place on the board’s next voting agenda consideration of the $2.6 million plan, with the $924,935 coming from the city’s general fund budget instead of from the city’s parks budget. Rego said it will have less impact on citizens to pull the money from the city’s $20 million general fund balance that from the more limited parks and recreation capital budget.

Director André Good seconded Rego’s request. It only takes two directors to place an item on a future regular meeting agenda during a study session.

Director Christina Catsavis, who has opposed funding for the water slide acquisition and installation, reminded the board about recent annual deficit spending and cautioned about a similar budget problem in 2026.

“We need to be mindful of this spending,” she said. “I feel like I hear the same argument over and over, ‘We need these amenities.’ We have an amenity. We have a good amenity. Parrot Island is an amenity. It’s not the choice of having it or not having it, it’s how big do we want to make it.”

The waterpark was opened in 2015 at Ben Geren Regional Park, which is owned by Sebastian County. Its initial construction cost was shared jointly by the county and the city. Grand Prairie, Texas-based American Resort Management (ARM) has managed the waterpark since it opened in 2015.

The city and the county also are considering five proposals for waterpark management for the 2026 season. Dingman said he and Sebastian County Judge Steve Hotz signed a temporary management agreement with ARM to ensure the facility would be managed through March 31.

In addition to a proposal from ARM, the city and county also received management proposals from Aquatic Management Inc., of Cumming, Ga.; Pool Management Inc., of Roswell, Ga.; Sports Facilities Management, of Clearwater, Fla.; and USA Pools of Arkansas, of Cumming, Ga.