Springdale population to jump

Officials expect Bethel Heights consolidation to be counted

SPRINGDALE — Springdale is expecting a jump in its official population in the next few months.

Mayor Doug Sprouse said the U.S. Census Bureau has not yet acknowledged the consolidation of Bethel Heights with Springdale, and the city has completed 10 smaller annexations since 2020 that also have not yet been included in its population.

Added population means Springdale will get more of a share of state and county tax revenue and possibly more federal funding from the 10 smaller annexations. The city is receiving sales and property taxes from the Bethel Heights annexation, state officials said.

Springdale and Bethel Heights voters approved the consolidation of the two cities in a special election in August 2020.

The annexation effort was started in August 2019 by residents of both cities as a way to resolve the issue of the Bethel Heights wastewater treatment system, which was overloaded and spilled untreated wastewater on the surface of the city’s two plants and neighboring yards. The Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality ordered Bethel Heights to close the system.

Sprouse said the timing of the special election, coming after the official date for the 2020 census, caused an unexpected delay in getting the additional population credited to Springdale.

“We were really hopeful the Census Bureau would go ahead and allow us to add those residents to our official population,” Sprouse said. “But we were told the census had a ‘hard’ cutoff date of Jan. 1, 2020.”

“They told us afterward it would be a matter of months or maybe a year before they could make the change. Here we are in 2024, and they’ve just opened up that process.”

Jeff Hawkins, former executive director of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, is working with the city to navigate through the Census Bureau process to update Springdale’s population. Hawkins said the bureau has provisions for what is called a “Geographically Updated Population Certification Program” that allows entities like Springdale a new certified census number.

“Bethel Heights will be included, as will all annexations that have occurred since Jan. 1, 2020,” Hawkins said in an email. “Population that was there then (and already counted), will be added to the city’s 2020 population number. However, new growth that has occurred since the census was conducted on April 1, 2020, will not be counted. Again it’s what was there and counted then, but is now in the city limits.”

Hawkins said the new population numbers impact both state turnback and the prorated shares of county sales and use taxes. He said the additional population would also be credited to the city when its participation in federal programs like the Community Development Block Grant Program, aimed at assisting with low- to moderate-income housing, are being considered.

The state has allotted Springdale the sales tax revenue formerly sent to Bethel Heights since shortly after the consolidation election, according to Scott Hardin, spokesman for the state Department of Finance and Administration.

The total sales tax revenue for Bethel Heights was $882,032 in 2019 and $1,092,836 in 2020, Hardin said in an email in response to questions. Immediately prior to the annexation of Bethel Heights by Springdale, Bethel Heights was generating approximately $50,000 a month in sales tax revenue. For example, $46,207 was generated in January 2021, $53,332 in February 2021 and $45,695 in March 2021. March 2021 was the last month Bethel Heights generated its own sales tax revenue. Beginning in April 2021, the revenue was issued to Springdale.

Springdale has also been receiving property tax revenue formerly remitted to Bethel Heights, according to Benton County Treasurer Deanna Ratcliffe. In 2020, the property tax revenue for Bethel Heights was about $179,000. Ratcliffe said the county is still showing some delinquent property taxes from the former Bethel Heights area, but the money will go to Springdale if and when it is collected.

The revenue stemming from the other annexations will be new revenue for the city. Hawkins said he and the city are working on getting the population numbers of the other annexed areas as they were on Jan. 1, 2020.

“What will be picked up is population for all of the annexations that have occurred since Jan. 1, 2020,” Hawkins said.

For example, the city sought an update in 2014 that resulted in the 2010 census population increasing from 69,797 to 70,747 — an increase of 950 — which benefited city revenues for about seven years, he said.

Between then and when the 2020 census came out, Springdale received over $400,000 extra in state turnback funds and close to $1.4 million in increased county sales and use tax revenues, according to Hawkins’ estimates. He said an update this year would also benefit city revenues for about seven years.

Hawkins said a “conservative” projection of increased revenues indicated the city would receive about $4,000 a month for every 120 new residents once the numbers are certified. He said if the process is handled quickly, the certification could be done in April or May.