Extortion in Arkansas - Tax Increase Part 5 & Berryville and Mtn. Home March Meetings

There will be TWO public meetings next week regarding the infamous NABORS Landfill Trash Tax/Service Fee in the affected North Arkansas Counties! 

1) Carroll County: in Berryville, Arkansas on Tuesday, March 27, 2018 at 10:00 am at the Berryville Community Center, 601 Dr Spurlin Circle (info from KTHS radio):

Arkansas House and Senate State Agencies will meet to discuss the $18 fee on property taxes resulting from the financial collapse of the NABORS landfill owned by the Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District. The public meeting will be held at the Berryville Community Center at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 27th.

Beginning this year, every owner of a business or commercial property in the Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District in Arkansas has an $18 on their tax statement for each parcel. These fees will go to the solid waste district to cover expenses associated with the NABORS landfill, which was purchased in 2005 through $12 million in bonds. 

The areas in the district encompass is Carroll, Marion, Baxter, Boone, Newton and Searcy Counties.

Here’s a map of the location for the Berryville Community Center at 601 Dr Spurlin Circle:

image credit

2) Also, a Baxter County town hall forum is set for Wednesday, March 28, 2018in Mountain Home, Arkansas to address taxpayer concerns regarding the controversial $18 annual assessment fee against each residence and business parcel to pay the debt incurred in purchasing the North Arkansas Board Of Regional Sanitation (NABORS) waste hauling operation and the local landfill. The forum will be held at 2:00 p.m. in the second floor courtroom of the Baxter County Courthouse on the square at 301 East 6th Street (info from KTLO).

Here’s a map of the location for the Baxter County Courthouse at 301 E 6th Street 
in Mountain Home:
 

Secure Arkansas is also getting many calls and emails about what happened at the special meeting in Marshall, Arkansas on March 17, 2018 regarding the forced $18 trash tax/service fee, and here is our short review. The “service fee”/trash tax suddenly appeared on people’s property tax statements this year (2018) with NO prior notice from anyone. Baxter, Boone, Carroll, Marion, Newton, and Searcy Counties are the affected areas… for now.  County clerks in the 6-county affected area are informing the outraged taxpayers that it was Geoffrey Treece who put the trash tax/service fee on their tax statements. (More on this below…)

BE SURE TO CATCH UP and read about this! It has the potential to affect EVERY COUNTY IN ARKANSAS! The hyperlinks below will bring you to each of the articles so far.

Extortion in Arkansas! Tax Increase – Trash Tax for 6 Counties in Northern Ark.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3 AND ACTION ITEM

Part 4 & Landfill “Fee” Protest Meeting

Regarding this special Marshall meeting:  it was opened by attorney Jerry Patterson, and he asked if those whom he invited were in attendance, namely anyone from: Bank of the Ozarks, Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District, the office of Arkansas Department of Environmental Protection (ADEQ), the receiver’s office, the party to the lawsuit in Baxter County, or anyone from Governor Asa Hutchinson’s office. The only two people who showed up in an official capacity were Caleb Stanton from the governor’s office and Geoffrey Treece, the attorney acting as the receiver who was recommended by Bank of the Ozarks (Trustee).  Mr. Treece admitted that it was on himself for not notifying taxpayers of the trash tax/service fee. He was also very vague and ambiguous in his answers to the public’s questions.

Picture of attorney Geoffrey Treece, the Receiver, at the meeting
in Marshall, Ark. on March 17, 2018

The Un-Constitutional $18 trash tax (“service fee”) was set by the Receiver, attorney Geoffrey B. Treece. See the court papers below. All legal fees, costs, and expenses related to the receivership will be paid by the Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District. (This will be the victimized taxpayers!)

Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District (NWAEDD) and the General Improvement Funds (GIF) may be involved with the NABORS Extortion Landfill deal. Crimes have already been involved with the GIF funds and NWAEDD. (More coming on this in Part 6.)

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Who’s the bondholder?:  Who are these un-named accusers who claim that the bonds must be paid? And by the innocent taxpayers? It’s our educated guess it will be one or more of the actors/players we’ve already mentioned in our alerts regarding this whole issue:

• Bank of the Ozarks
• Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ)
• Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District (NWAEDD)
• Key players on the NWAEDD board
• Key players on the Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District board
• We will name other possibilities and players in Part 6 

We’ve named some possible players as bondholders, but what does the bond offer actually state?

From the Crews & Associates Bond Offering Dated October 12, 2005:

The bonds are not and shall not be deemed to constitute a debt or liability or a pledge of the faith and credit of the district, the State of Arkansas or any political subdivision thereof but shall be payable solely from pledged revenues under the trust indenture. Neither the faith and credit nor the taxing power of the State of Arkansas or of any polical subdivision thereof is pledged to the payment of the principal of tor interest on the bonds. The District has no taxing power.

Bank of the Ozarks through a ”CONSENT ORDER APPOINTING RECEIVER“ requested that Geoffrey Treece be appointed as the receiver of the District. The District (Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District) and ADEQ agreed to Treece’s appointment.

Court Case No. 60CV-14-4479 (BANK OF THE OZARKS V OZARK MTN SOLID WASTE DISTRICT -NON-TRIAL as mentioned in our previous articles) addresses the bond default (ALL court documents may be viewed here, and MANY have just been brought forward in this alert!) and from page 16 of the “Receiver’s Report and Recommendations and Motion for Approval and Implementation of Recommendations”: 

The Receiver proposes that the District be ordered to assess an annual service fee of $18.00 commencing in 2017 and continuing for the life of the repayment plan set forth herein. The District would generate annual gross service fees in the amount of $1,241,676.00 based on a service fee of $18.00 and 68,982 assessments. The first $1,000,000.00 of service fees would be earmarked for and paid to the Trustee and ADEQ to satisfy their debt, as more particularly specified in paragraphs 14(d) and (e).

Now, what happened to the $12,340,000 that Northwest Arkansas Regional Solid Waste Management District received from the sale of the bonds?  

And into which bank was that money deposited?  

Is this laundered money?

Here is the FOIA that was sent to Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District concerning the $12,340,000 bonds:

RE: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request 

March 20, 2018 

Ozark Mountain Solid Waste Management District,

Attn:Melinda Caldwell, Executive Director

Melinda Caldwell, Executive Director,

Baxter County Judge Mickey Pendergrass – Chairman

Gassville Mayor Jeff Braim – Vice Chairman

Per the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act 93 of 1967, I am requesting the following information that is listed below 

1. Provide a copy of the signed NABORS Interlocal Alliance Agreement between Baxter, Boone, Carroll Marion, Newton and Searcy Counties.
2. Provide a copy of the Resolution authorizing Northwest Arkansas Regional Solid Waste Management District to enter into an agreement with Crews & Associates for the sales of $9,800,00 2005A Bonds and $2,540,000 2005B Bonds.
3. Provide a copy of all financial papers listing where all he money was deposited from the $12,340,000 Bank of the Ozark 2005 bond sales.
4. Provide a copy of all financial papers listing where all the money was spent from the $12,340,00 Bank of the Ozark 2005 bond sales.

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Here is the response from the above FOIA:

Please find answers for questions 1 – 4 of your FOI Request.  

1. We have reviewed records and we are unable to locate any such document. 

2. We have reviewed records and we are unable to locate any such document.

3. OMSWD does not have copies of those documents. Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District managed District business and maintained records in 2005. 

4. OMSWD does not have copies of those documents. Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District managed District business and maintained records in 2005.  

The above FOIA request was redirected to Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District since they were the ones in charge during 2005.

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Here is the partial FOIA response from the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District:

This reply will serve as an acknowledgement of receipt of your FOIA request. This organization has had no affiliation with the Solid Waste District since 2009. As a result and based on a cursory review of our files I am doubtful of the availability of many of the records you seek. The current management team, including myself, has only been here since late 2014 so we have a limited knowledge of the events that occurred and any accompanying documentation that existed during the time of your records request. We have been able to locate some resolutions that may address item #2 and they are attached for your review. These are the only resolutions that could be located that appear to be pertinent to your request. I will be out of the office until late next week so I have copied my Deputy Director, Jeremy Ragland, on this reply. He will coordinate the continued research into your request and will communicate with you as to the results of our search.

Respectfully, 

Joe Willis 

Executive Director

Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District, Inc.

Hwy 62-65/412 N P.O. Box 190

Harrison, AR 72602

Office    870-741-5404

Fax         870-741-1905

[email protected]

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Secure Arkansas asks: what elected official will come forth and request the Attorney General’s opinion regarding whether Circuit Judge Tim Fox’s court ruling is statutorily valid?

In closing, Secure Arkansas is determined to pinpoint who the bondholder/bondholders are. Keep watching and reading because this case will finally break, so get prepared for more scandals to be brought forth! Hopefully, the guilty parties WILL be presented with indictments… 

Please look for Extortion In Arkansas – Tax Increase, Part 6 coming soon…

Remember:  eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

As always, you can find our email articles posted on our website: SecureArkansas.com.  The Search box is a handy tool.  For more information about a topic (such as FLUORIDE), just type it into the Search box on our website, and click Enter!
 

Securing the blessings of liberty,
 

Secure Arkansas
securetherepublic.com/arkansas
[email protected]

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