Highfill, airport fight over detachment lands in court

HIGHFILL — Highfill is suing Northwest Arkansas National Airport to stop the airport from leaving.

Airport officials voted last month to begin deannexing from Highfill.

The Arkansas Legislature earlier this year passed a law that allows the airport to deannex by a two-thirds vote of the airport authority board.

The law permits regional airport authorities to detach from a city without also having to be annexed into another city. The airport has about 2,600 acres, and all but about 35 acres of that are within Highfill.

Olivia Moore, public affairs manager for the airport, said the law is presumed to be constitutional and passed both houses of the General Assembly with strong bipartisan support.

“The authority believes Highfill’s lawsuit is without merit and looks forward to defending the act and the vision of those regional leaders who conceived XNA to benefit the entire region, not just one small town with an official population of 1,587,” Moore said, referring to the city’s 2020 census population figure.

Highfill levies a 2% sales and use tax throughout its jurisdiction, including the land occupied by the airport. The tax generates about $1 million per year, with water and sewer revenue bringing in an additional $1.2 million per year, according to the complaint.

The tax proceeds make up the majority of Highfill’s revenue for funding city operations and paying on bonds, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit claims the loss of that revenue would impact Highfill’s ability to provide police, fire, ambulance, water, wastewater and disposal services for residents.

The airport wants to detach from Highfill to achieve its goal of operating free of any city or county oversight and to become its own taxing authority, the suit claims.

The final version of the detachment law did not include a mechanism requested by the airport that would have allowed it to levy its own taxes if it detached from the city, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit claims the airport attempted to obtain an agreement from Highfill to let the airport keep all of the sales taxes on parking fees and all other taxes from the airport in excess of $600,000.

The law specifically states the airport cannot cause Highfill to default on its debt, the city argues.

The complaint claims if the airport is permitted to detach from the city, Highfill’s solvency and ability to meet its obligations would be measured in days and not weeks.

The suit claims the law to allow deannexation violates several provisions of law and the Arkansas Constitution.

The case is assigned to Benton County Circuit Judge Doug Schrantz.