Bank OZK has paid $2,660,982.87 in court-ordered refunds to property owners in Baxter, Searcy, Newton, and three other north Arkansas counties, resolving an eight-year legal dispute over a controversial landfill fee. The payments follow Arkansas Court of Appeals rulings in May that voided the legal basis for the $18 annual fee imposed on property owners in 2018 and 2019 to cover debts tied to the failed NABORS landfill.
According to court filings, each property owner who paid the fees will receive $12.10 for every $18 billed, with $10.50 representing the refund and $1.60 in accrued interest. Attorneys for the taxpayers and administrative costs will retain part of the funds. For example, a property owner with one parcel billed during both years should expect a total refund of approximately $24.20. Distribution of the funds is being handled by Fayetteville attorney Matt Bishop, who represented the plaintiffs in the case.
The funds were held in a trust account managed by Bank OZK, formerly known as Bank of the Ozarks. Records show that significant interest accrued over time as the legal dispute played out, accounting for nearly $321,000 in the total refund pool. Baxter County property owners contributed more to the fund than any other county, with $838,851.55 allocated for refunds to local taxpayers.
The case traced back to the Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District’s financially troubled purchase of the NABORS landfill in 2005 for $12.34 million. The district borrowed the money through revenue bonds, with Bank OZK serving as trustee for the bondholders. Financial challenges mounted after the landfill failed to generate anticipated revenue, leading to its closure in 2012 and the district’s bankruptcy filing in 2014. The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), which oversaw the closure, spent an additional $13 million stabilizing the site.
In 2017, a court-appointed receiver, acting on behalf of ADEQ and the bondholders, implemented the $18 service fee to recoup the district’s debt, despite objections from the waste district’s board, which had previously deemed such fees likely illegal. A Pulaski County judge approved the fee but encountered legal challenges in 2018 when taxpayers in six counties sued to block it. By 2020, five counties had declared the fee an illegal exaction.
The litigation culminated in the Arkansas Court of Appeals rulings earlier this year. The court found that the Pulaski County Circuit Court lacked jurisdiction to approve the fee and override other county courts' rulings. The appellate decisions also affirmed garnishment orders in Carroll and Boone counties, ensuring those funds were preserved for taxpayer refunds.
While refunds are now being issued, the landfill remains under the control of ADEQ, and the debt owed to unnamed bondholders remains unpaid. Attempts to sell the property in recent years, including a proposed sale to Illinois-based Lakeshore Recycling Systems, have collapsed due to public opposition and stricter state regulations.
Affected property owners can expect refunds for the 2017 and 2018 tax years, as billed in 2018 and 2019, to be distributed through Bishop’s office in the coming weeks. According to Circuit Judge William Wright, distributions for 2019’s tax year refunds in Baxter County were already issued from funds retained by the county collector.