You won’t find this on the Official City of Rockport Website or Rockport AR City News Facebook page so here it is. Please read this information and ask questions to make an educated decision at the polls in November.

Rockport is attempting to annex a few separate areas by vote. This is different from the common method of by petition from the individual landowners as is done a lot in the area. This election method can be done without the landowner’s knowledge but I do believe these landowners are aware since they tried to do this in the 2022 General Election but messed up a paperwork deadline or something and also tried in 2019 with a few landowners’ petitions.

They first tried part of this in April of 2019 by petition (Tracts 1-6). They were told by an attorney that it was illegal to use highway/road right-of-way as contiguous property to connect two distant parcels and unless they could produce a state statue allowing it then it was denied. Rockport then dropped this most likely due to the inability to cite a statute allowing ROW use to connect distant non-connected parcels.

In 2022 they tried again to get it done but this time by election and added more tracts to the 2019 attempt. This attempt failed because someone didn’t get the paperwork done it turned in in time for a deadline. (Unsure if was a City or County issue)

That brings us to the now third attempt. Some of these parcels were to grab land on the bypass by annexing a small strip of a very large tract of Weyerhaeuser Co. land (Tract 14). I’m not sure why it’s in there as the city limits showed to extend out the bypass and be contiguous with Tracts 15-17. This Tract 14 is separated from the current city limits on Sand Road by a mere 30′ to prevent an enclave that would have been illegal. Why annex a small strip of a 386-acre piece of timberland only to separate it from the current city limits by 30′?

Addresses to be Annexed (Based on map from GIS)

The other interesting thing I read is they are offering the following services to residents of the proposed annexation area:

• Police Protection
• Drainage and Storm Water Management
• Animal Control
• Trash Pickup

Police Protection: We have a great police department under the authority of Chief Morales. In my opinion, this is our #1 benefit to annexation.

Drainage and Storm Water Management: I’m not sure what the city does in this area other than mowing and clearing ditches, but I live on a state highway and may not see all they do. I admit I am undereducated in this area of city government.

Animal Control: We have no animal shelter and no animal control officer unless it’s a second duty of some city employee. What animal control can we offer without a shelter?

Trash Pickup: Yes they pick up bagged trash most Tuesdays. For this service, we pay the mayor/council woman’s business $30K+ but we take in $110K in solid waste taxes with the difference going to help fund the city’s general fund. By holding out our portion of the solid waste tax (just as Malvern does) we prevent our residents from dumping at any SWA station if they have trash not in household trash bags. This shocks some when they go to do some spring cleaning or clean out a garage/shed and are told they must pay a large sum per load to dump at the SWA. Unlike Malvern, we have no other location/service to dispose of used furniture or other large items. (They currently have a “Clean-up Day” planned to dump stuff in bins/trailers at the Rockport City Park on November 15th – 17th).

Conspicuously missing from this list is Sewer Services. We have passed a total of 2% sales tax (twice the 1% dedicated to funding city operations) just to fund the Rockport City Sewer System. My research into this system shows no possible way a 2% sales tax and revenues from the 100+ sewer customers will be able to pay the bond payment in coming years. As of 2018, which was the last year for a sewer system legislative audit, the system had $4 MILLION+ in liabilities. During previous annexation lawsuits, this sewer system was touted as a vital service but, these new areas (mainly tracts 1-13) are a great distance from the current system infrastructure and therefore would require a large investment by the city to extend sewer lines & pump stations into these areas. I believe this is why it is absent from this annexation.

Fire Department Coverage: Also, everyone annexed into Rockport will lose their coverage by Magnet Cove Fire Department which has protected them since 1980, and will go under the protection of Rockport/Mt. Willow FD since the city chose to contract with them solely in 2020 breaking the longstanding tradition of Magnet Cove FD covering Rockport City on the NW side of I-30, thereby taking money from MCFD.

Motivation: I’m still unsure of the motivation behind this annexation. Most of the time people request to be annexed by petition so they can benefit from city services and if they directly border the city they are annexed. The people in this annexation will only benefit from police protection & trash pickup (kinda) and the city will only get a very small amount more in property taxes. Property taxes in total only account for 4% ($45,000) of Rockport City revenue.

My true agenda in all of this is to get the information out for every resident to have this information available to them so they can educate themselves. Please, just read over all the information and see if you or your neighbors will be affected and let them know. Voters in the proposed area and in the City of Rockport will get to decide the fate of this annexation. All I ask is please educate yourself, ask questions of your council and mayor if you have any, and form your own opinions on this matter.

More info will be added as it becomes available…

Highway 270 / Forrest Hills Neighborhood

Bypass & Sand Rd. Area