Fort Smith Vice Mayor and City Director Jarred Rego is pushing plan to reduce and reprogram city spending, and he’s hoping the rest of the Fort Smith Board of Directors will consider it.
Rego shared his proposal of spending reprogramming and reductions – Fort Smith Curbing Unrestricted Taxpayer Spending (CUTS) package at the directors regular meeting Tuesday (March 4).
“As we approach the end of the first quarter of 2025 and are asking voters to renew and revise an existing sales tax in support of a stable financial plan to meet our consent decree obligations, it’s time for the Board of Directors to do what we can to make sure that dollars are being spent as wisely and efficiently as possible,” Rego said.
The premise that guided the effort was that the city had to look closely at all 13 departments that receive money from the Water and Sewer Operating Fund and see what can be done to make sure every dollar possible can go to consent decree work, he said.
In doing so, Rego identified funding reprogramming and reductions that could potentially generate $7.069 million in available funding in 2025 for the consent decree, he said. The city is under a federal consent decree to make broad improvements to the sewer system.
The CUTS package would generate $2.898 million annually from reprogramming 15% water and sewer funding from each of the 13 departments to consent decree work. It also would generate from one-time adjustments of a 5% overall budget cut from each of the 13 departments, a 25% dues and subscriptions budget cut from each of the 13 departments, a 10% cut to the mayor’s special events budget; and a 25% cut to the MakeMyMove program which seeks to recruit remote workers to the city.
Money generated from these one-time cuts would be approximately $1.118 million, Rego said.
The proposed plan also would generate $2.953 million from one-time General Fund Transit spending, pending legal review, and $100,000 annually from Convention Center funding, he said. Police, Fire, Parks, Streets and Solid Waste receive no money from the water and sewer fund.
The board agreed to place the plan on a study session agenda in April.
MAKEMYMOVE CUT
In another move to save the city money, Director Christina Catsavis requested directors cease funding the city’s MakeMyMove program.
The board approved funding the program in July 2024 by setting aside $250,000 to fund incentives to encourage those working remotely to relocate to Fort Smith. In April 2024, the board approved $224,175 for contracted services with Indianapolis-based Make My Move to operate to the benefit of Fort Smith.
The $250,000 expenditure was to fund monetary incentives of $10,000 per participant who purchases a home in Fort Smith and $5,000 per participant who rents a home in Fort Smith. The monetary incentives were meant to assist with moving expenses, closing costs, deposits, and other relocation-related expenses, making the transition smoother and more financially feasible for new residents, Josh Buchfink, the city’s public relations manager, said in a memo on the subject.
The city has paid $12,500 so far for incentives, Buchfink told the board Tuesday night. That money is for the initial payments of the incentives that are paid when new residents show proof of a lease or house sale. The second half of the incentive is paid after the person has lived in Fort Smith for one year.
There is $12,500 expected to be paid still for those incentives. So far, six people have moved to the city with five receiving incentives, Buchfink said. There have been a few contracts extended by the city that are waiting to be received from the new residents, he added.
There was a remaining $227,185 for incentives requested in 2024 carryovers to be paid with other carryover expenses that were approved Tuesday night. The board pulled that funding from the carryover approval. The board agreed to only pay out what the city has already contractually agreed to and then cease the program.
“We are saving over $200,000 tonight, so thank you,” Catsavis said.