Home sales in Arkansas continue to paint a picture of an improving economy in three of the state’s four largest metro areas, with the Fort Smith region seeing a decline in home sales for the first four months of 2013.

Jeff Collins, an economist for The City Wire, said the April Arkansas Home Sales Report shows that most of the markets covered are moving in the right direction.

Home sales in Arkansas’ four largest markets during the first four months of 2013 totaled 5,728, up 11.06% compared to the 2012 period. The value of homes sold during the quarter totaled $936.886 million, up 15.54% compared to the 2012 period, according to The City Wire’s Arkansas Home Sales Report.

The City Wire’s Arkansas Home Sales Report captures home sales data in the state’s 14 most populated counties within the state’s four largest metro areas — Central Arkansas, Fort Smith area, Jonesboro/Northeast Arkansas and Northwest Arkansas. The report, which records closed sales, accounts for between 70% and 75% of total Arkansas home sales.

Collins said housing is the “canary in the coal mine” for the overall health of the economy.

“It’s amazing how accurately the housing market reflects what’s going in local markets in terms of jobs creation,” he said, adding that central and Northwest Arkansas are clearly on the mend while there’s room for improvement in Fort Smith and Jonesboro.

THE REGIONAL PICTURE
Central Arkansas — Home sales
Jan.-April 2013: 2,749
Jan.-April 2012: 2,483
Jan.-April 2011: 2,381

Fort Smith area — Home sales
Jan.-April 2013: 471
Jan.-April 2012: 481
Jan.-April 2011: 502

Jonesboro area — Home sales
Jan.-April 2013: 553
Jan.-April 2012: 499
Jan.-April 2011: 564

Northwest Arkansas — Home sales
Jan.-April 2013: 2,009
Jan.-April 2012: 1,743
Jan.-April 2011: 1,686

The top five counties in terms of Jan.-April 2013 home sales:
Benton — 1,256, up compared to 1,090 in 2012
Pulaski — 1,250, up compared to 1,176 in 2012
Washington — 753, up compared to 653 in 2012
Craighead — 436, up compared to 377 in 2012
Faulkner— 425, up compared to 343 in 2012

Link here for a PDF document of the April 2013 data.

AVERAGE PRICES
Collins said average prices and the time it takes to sell a home also reflect the health of a regional economy.

“To me, when I look at these kinds of numbers, I’m focusing on what’s happening to average prices and days on market,” he said, explaining that increases in average prices and a decline in the amount of time homes stay up for sale are signs of improvement.

The average sales price in the areas covered in the report was $162,035 through April – up 4.03% from $155,752 through the first four months of 2012 and up 11.27% from $145,629 through April 2011. Also through April, homes were on the market an average of 98.24 days – down from 108.39 through April last year and from 104.68 days through the first four months of 2011.

Collins said central and Northwest Arkansas have shown strong improvement in terms of average prices and days on market, whereas the Fort Smith area showed a decline in average sales prices and the Jonesboro area reveals a slight decline in prices and an increase in days on market.

Sherri Bennett, a Realtor with Fred Dacus Associates, said she’s seen strong signs of improvement in Jonesboro. She said new industries are coming in and people are moving in the area to take them. Also, the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services reported the unemployment rate in Craighead County was 6.3% in April – better than the 7.1% for the state.

That information may seem to contradict Collins’ assessment, but doesn’t because the Jonesboro area, for the purposes of the Arkansas Home Sales Report, includes Craighead and Greene counties. Once Greene County is removed from the equation, average sales prices rose in April and average days on market decreased – both signs of an improving economy under Collins’ analysis.

In Greene County, the unemployment rate in April was 8.2% and average sales prices declined in April while average days on market increased.

Bennett said the Jonesboro market is seeing increased demand for homes which has caused home owners to sell their homes at the listed price more often than they have in the past. Indeed, sellers on average received 96.28% of their list prices in April – an improvement over 95.06% a year ago and 95.68% in April 2011. That list price to sales price through April averaged 95.73%.

HIGH PERFORMANCE
In central Arkansas, Nick McDaniel of McDaniel and Company Realtors in Hensley, said his office has certainly noticed an improved economy.

“Over the last 90 days – especially the last 60 days – I’ve sold all my inventory and I’m about to bring five (homes) out of the ground,” he said. “The last two months have been my best out of the last 12. ... Things are looking really good.”

McDaniel, who lists existing homes and sells new ones, said that he’s sold 10 new homes this year in the Deer Creek subdivision in East End. He said the homes he’s built and sold are priced from around $128,000 to $154,000 and houses in that range are selling quickly.

Two of the larger real estate operations In Northwest Arkansas had solid gains in April.

“Our April sales rose 58% in volume over last year and our agents closed deals on 36% more homes compared to April 2012. It was our best April in a long, long time,” said George Faucette, CEO of the local Coldwell Banker franchise.

Harold Crye, CEO of Crye-Leike Realty, said his firm’s NWA business was up 58% last month with $37.4 million in total sales. His agents closed deals on 230 homes, up 36% from the same month last year. Crye-Leike and Coldwell Banker comprise a lion’s share of the total market.

TOUGH TIMES
Alice Medlock, broker/owner of Medlock and West Realty in Van Buren (Fort Smith region), said two issues were driving the lower sales volume – first time home buyers and foreclosures. She said both would likely continue to keep prices low, especially foreclosures.

"We've already had as many foreclosures listed in the second quarter as we did for the entire year," she said.

The increase in foreclosures has been drastic at all real estate firms, Medlock said.

"Personally, for my company, probably over the last year, ... we've had at least a 200% increase (in foreclosure listings)."

She said another factor in the lower price points could be a lack of sellers in all price ranges, such as high-end homes.

The Fort Smith Public School District Partners In Education program held its annual banquet on Thursday (May 29) and announced its partnership award winners.

The Norma Shaffer Partnership of the Year Award was established to recognize outstanding partnerships within the Fort Smith Public School District's Partners in Education Program.

Established in 1998, the award is named for Norma Shaffer who coordinated Partners in Education from 1986-1998. Each year, the award is presented to one elementary partnership and to one secondary or program partnership. The 2013 recipients are:
• Elementary – OG&E with Cavanaugh Elementary School
• Secondary – Gerdau with Darby Junior High School

Partners In Education Whole Heart Awards are awards designed to recognize the incredible efforts of Partners of all shapes and sizes. “Whole Heart” was gleaned from the dozens of nominations that note partners are engaged “wholeheartedly” in their efforts to support student achievement and well being. The 2013 recipients are:
• Richard Taylor
• University of Arkansas at Fort Smith
• Ameriprise, FS Radiation Oncology, First Western Bank, International Paper and Morrison Elementary School

The Bud Jackson Teamwork Award honors FSPS Partners In Education program founder Bud Jackson. Jackson, former CEO at Weldon Williams and Lick, approached then Superintendent C.B. Garrison with the Adopt a School Program. In 1982, with the support of Garrison, Jackson established a partnership between Howard Elementary School and Weldon Williams and Lick.

Many other schools have followed in the 30 years since the first school/business relationship began. In 2003, The Bud Jackson Teamwork Award was established to recognize outstanding team effort of partnerships. The 2013 recipients are:
• Beard Elementary School with Partners: Baldor, Bowling World, Eureka Pizza, Harps, HealthSouth, Liberty Bank, Noon Exchange Club and Beard PTA
• Euper Lane Elementary School with Partners Benefit Bank and Euper Lane PTA

The Cathy Williams Partner of the Year Award was established in 2011 recognizing the friendly, but persistent, leadership that Cathy Williams contributed as Partners in Education Program director from 1998 through 2011. This award honors an individual who demonstrates long term and consistent support to a school through the Partners program. The 2013 recipient is:
• Tim Bailey, Candy Craze 

Sam’s Club operates in the shadow Wal-Mart Stores Inc., but if it were a stand-alone business, the warehouse club that posted $56.4 billion in revenue last year would be the eighth largest U.S. retailer.

That’s more than the Gap, J.C. Penney and Kohl’s rang up cumulatively in 2012. Sam’s major warehouse club competitor, Costco posted $97 billion in sales last year and continues to lead the club retail category.

Though it trails competitor Costco in total sales volume, Sam’ Club has 620 locations with a total of 82.65 million square feet of space with plans to add eight more clubs this year.

Sam’s Club, which now employs more than 110,000 workers, recently celebrated 30 years as a division of Wal-Mart. Each club location averages more than $80 million in sales annually with a membership of 47 million and growing.

Sam’s also is the third largest grocer in the country, with grocery and consumables accounting for 55% of the clubs’ $56.4 billion in net sales.

BORROWED IDEA
Sol Price, founder of Price Club and FedMart, is considered the pioneer of the “warehouse store” retail model. He opened his first warehouse club in San Diego, Calif., in 1976. The warehouse club concept involved selling high volumes of a small variety of goods, at supposedly wholesale-level-low prices, to a select group of customers — who pay a membership fee in exchange for the right to shop there.
 
Legend has it that Sam Walton dined with Price in California and a few months later (April 1983) he opened the first Sam’s Club. A retail pioneer himself, Walton would never shy away from borrowing the ideas of others.

“Sam considered borrowing good ideas a form of flattery. But he had one stipulation on borrowing: It was mandatory that we do it better,” said Tom Coughlin, a retail consultant and retired executive of Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart Stores.

Coughlin said the early team who got Sam’s Club off the ground were mavericks and incredibly dedicated to this new concept, which was very different from the Wal-Mart model.

He said the warehouse club segment quickly gathered steam throughout the mid 1980s.

A protege of Price, Jim Sinegal, launched Costco in September 1983, five months after the first Sam’s Club debuted in Midwest City, Okla., and years later Sinegal bought out Price Club giving Costco more locations in densely populated coastal cities. Just as Costco absorbed Price Club, Sam’s swallowed up 80 Pace Clubs from K-Mart in 1994.

Other retailers staked claims throughout the country such as Pace Clubs of Denver. B.J.’s began on the east coast and Club Wholesale got underway in Boise, Idaho.

Sam’s Club focused on cities throughout the southern central U.S. in towns like Springdale, Lawton, Okla., and Tyler, Texas.

GETTING SAM’S STARTED
“I’ll always admire the four guys who got the first Sam’s unit up and running. They did it very quietly behind the scenes, with very little, or no, computer system support from the company, “ said Ron Loveless, Sam’s first president.
 
He said the merchandise mix, with multiple-item packaging and larger sizes, differed considerably from that of Wal-Mart, so the sourcing and distribution power behind the parent company wasn’t much help to those few on the front lines at Sam’s Club.

Rob Voss led the merchandising effort, Dick Palmer was over operations while Mike Villines and Clyde Hulett assisted with merchandising and set-up. (This maverick group, though mostly retired today, remains in contact and recently gathered in Branson to celebrate the 30th birthday of Sam’s Club. The event was hosted by Voss, who was Walton’s choice as head merchandiser for the new venture in 1983.)
 
In that first year Sam’s lean crew worked to get the merchandise mix and operations off to a good start. They had to overcome obstacles such as leaking roofs and cracked concrete floors in the cheap-rent industrial building that was home to Sam’s Club No. 1 near Oklahoma City.
 
Loveless said the profit margin for the first warehouse clubs were essentially the membership income as operating revenue from sales went to cover labor and cost of merchandise.
 
“The low priced goods would nearly sell themselves, our biggest challenge was figuring out the best way to market the memberships. Our gross margins were very low in hopes of pushing through more volume, but members were the key to profitability,” Loveless said.
 
By the end of the first year, Walton had agreed to open two more clubs, one outside of Kansas City and one on Garland Road in Dallas.
 
CLUB MERCHANDISING
A typical Wal-Mart store has between 100,000 to 120,000 stock items, but Sam’s Club had under 5,000 items that could be sold in high volume.
 
Jim Branam joined Sam’s Club in August 1983 after he closed his apparel store in Rogers. Branam was responsible for the apparel, home goods and office supplies as senior merchant for Sam’s Club. One of the biggest challenges Branam faced was getting apparel suppliers to recognize that Sam’s Club was not Wal-Mart.
 
“We wanted to carry more exclusive brands at Sam’s and convincing the suppliers their products would not end up on the shelves at Wal-Mart was a constant issue. But my years as a buyer for Sam’s were some of the most fun in my career. I would go to market and have the best time scoping out all the trendy items for the coming season. Because we did not carry a full line of apparel, I could pick and chose those items I felt would fly off the shelf, and they did,” Branam said.

Sam’s was in the grocery business several years before Wal-Mart as a supplier to small restaurants and food service businesses.
 
Stan Moore and Larry King developed the grocery division of Sam’s Club, after the first club or two basically mirrored Price Club, Loveless said. Moore joined the merchandising team in April 1984 and set out to convince food suppliers to add Sam’s as a foodservice customer. Moore said it was a tough sell.

“It was a foreign concept for them to treat us, a retail club, like they would restaurants or foodservice units of schools or hospitals. We also worked to get suppliers to ship in pallets directly to the club and design product in multi-packs so we could sell in bulk.” Moore said.

General Mills came on board early selling Cheerios in large bags designed for restaurants. Kellogg’s did not want to accommodate Sam’s multipack requirements for years, according to Moore, who said Sam’s had about 200 clubs before Kellogg’s would agree to the requirements.

“At one point we were selling so many units of Cheerios, General Mills told us we were destroying their own sales to foodservice so they discontinued the large bag sales to Sam’s but they did provide us with large multipacks to sell instead,” Moore said.
 
In the first several years Moore and Branam said they worked at a fast pace as a lean crew of six ordering all the merchandise and visiting clubs to look for interesting items and unusual packaging that offered the greatest values for club members.
 
Moore said ordering took hours with a handheld calculator and crude inventory spreadsheets that were used to forecast demand.
 
“The last thing you would want was for a club to be out of a key item that its business customers needed. We worked hard to make sure that didn’t happen. We had some suppliers delivering everyday to our clubs back then,” he said.
 
‘STRAPPED TO A ROCKET’
Moore said those early years at Sam’s involved hard work, but no one seemed to notice because of the fun they were having as the new adventure constantly inspired creative merchandising.

“We would put chocolate covered peanuts or pistachio nuts or almonds in large clear gallon-size plastic containers and these items were fast movers stacked beautifully on pallet displays. We used to joke that we could sell horse manure in those plastic jars,” Moore said.

The 12 years Moore worked at Sam’s Club he said “were like being strapped to a rocket,” as the company exploded with growth adding 340 clubs in a little more than a decade.

“My last year at Sam’s – 1996 – we did $1 billion in candy sales,” Moore said. “We transformed the businesses of several regional suppliers because of the massive volumes our clubs sell.”

Loveless said the club chains that did not survive concentrated heavily on membership, but failed to differentiate their merchandise from typical retailer offerings.

“There was a reason Sam’s didn’t carry Crest toothpaste – because we could never sell it cheaper than Wal-Mart. We focused on those items that could be sold in bulk and toothpaste was not one of them,” Loveless said.

CULTURE BREEDS SUCCESS
Coughlin said the culture at Sam’s Club was unique and preserving it has been key to the company’s success throughout the past three decades amid top management turnover.

Wal-Mart has had four CEOs in its 51-year history. Sam’s Club has had 12. Al Johnson held the role two different times making for 13 management changes in the past 30 years.

In contrast, Jim Sinegal ran Costco and served as CEO from 1983, until stepping down a few months ago. He is still board chairman.
 
Coughlin said there have been key individuals throughout the years who embodied the essence of Sam’s corporate culture, which was face-to-face, know and serve your customer. He credits Johnson with contributions toward Sam’s success, saying he was a student of the warehouse club model.

“Even in his retirement Al spent six months traveling and studying the club business inside and out and bringing those insights back to Sam’s,” Coughlin said.

Kenny Folk joined Sam’s in 1986 when there were 20 clubs. According to Coughlin and others, Folk was also a keeper of the culture.

“I took a pay cut to join Sam’s Club as an assistant manager and saw first-hand how top executives at Wal-Mart, like David Glass and Jack Shewmaker and of course Mr. Sam took a keen interest in the warehouse club model,” Folk said.

Despite a competitive landscape, Folk who had worked for Jim Sinegal before joining Sam’s Club, said the key to Sam’s success was its focus on the business customer.

“As someone who worked out in the clubs, I can tell you we knew our business customers’ names and continually strived to get them values and services like early-hour shopping, which was something our competitors didn’t do,” Folk said.
 
He said club employees from cart pushers to merchandisers were constantly asked to share ideas with top management which fostered a sense of pride and ownership throughout the workforce which has also been key to Sam’s success. Folk retired three years ago after rising to the senior vice president ranks at Sam’s Club and Walmart U.S.

While Sam’s never gets the media attention of a Costco or Wal-Mart, and the CEO lifespan is only about 2.5 years, the former Sam’s executives interviewed by The City Wire agreed that mom and pop restaurants, local insurance offices and school athletic boosters understand the value a warehouse club gives.
 
They said the small business members are the primary reason for the Sam’s Club growth and is a reason the club has proved a stepping stone for key retail management throughout the years.
 
And while the business-to-business retail model is as crowded as ever, it continues to be the bread and butter and best hope for continued success.

You would never mistake Mo Elliott for a white-collar big-board, business exec, but make no mistake about it, the wunderkind owner/founder of Fayetteville based clothing line "Fayettechill" has as much vision and business savvy as anyone you will come across.

Elliott and his cohorts look young enough to blend in with intramural ultimate frisbee crowd. Skateboards and snap-back hats lay about the lobby of their office like a frat house, which is tucked away discreetly inside the Ozark Mountain Smokehouse in Fayetteville.

"The free smells alone are worth the rent we pay here," joked co-owner Grant Holden.

Elliott, Holden and fellow co-owner Devin O'Dea (all under the age of 25) share a large office where all of the company brainstorming takes place. A long conference table in the middle of the room is filled with sketches of the latest designs. A rack of fleece jackets from the upcoming fall line is on display against the far wall. But the biggest project of the of Fayettechill's future is on Elliott's lap-top.

Eliott said he always wanted to own a company and initially used seed money he saved from working during high school. He shared his entrepreneurial passion with his friends and together they continue to grow the business. 

"We are looking to expand our line across the region and we are hoping to make great strides this upcoming fall by adding a pop-up-store,"  Elliott said. "Over the last few years we have made big strides growing the company in Northwest Arkansas, but now we are looking to expand the the neighboring region...

"If you ask anyone in a five-hour radius where the best camping is, most everybody you come across will say the Ozarks. Essentially the consumer base is already aware of us on some level. The pop-up-store will only help increase our visibility."

The pop-up-store is a revolutionary idea that will be a rolling retail shop. Imagine a tricked out Winnebago, stocked and locked with all the freshest Fayettechill merchandise. They bought a 33-foot Airstream that is being polished and decorated inside to resemble to company's base camp store.

"This will allow us to go places we haven't been able to go before and it will allow people who have only had access to our products online the ability to physically browse our stuff," said Elliott.

He said they will be taking the pop-up store to Tulsa, Dallas and Kansas City to start.

Fayettechill was created by Elliot while he was still attending the University of Arkansas. Since his graduation in 2009 Elliott has opened two retail stores in Fayetteville, the newest of which opened last August on West Avenue. He has been active as a leader in the local entrepreneurial alliance and also served as a director for the Iceberg co-work facility in Fayetteville.

"When I first started it was much tougher because I was the only one of the staff (Holden and O'Dea) graduated a couple years after me," said Elliott. "I guess I was working about 45-50 hours a week, but things have changed quite a bit over the last few years and our goal is to get bigger and better all the time."

Very popular among outdoorsman of all ages, the brand has become more than just recreational clothing, it is fast becoming a statement of local style. From the UA campus to Dickson Street and on every inch of the bike trail you can see locals "repping" Fayettechill gear.

"Obviously (the Ozarks) have some of the most beautiful parks and camp grounds you will find in a three state radius so we do a lot of business with people who are outdoorsman," said Holden. "But we are selling a lot of shirts to kids who may have never been camping."

The relaxed atmosphere of the Fayettechill workspace is an offshoot of the energy shared between its owners. The co-owners (Elliott and Holden) have been life-long friends, originally hailing from Dallas and attending the same high school (Lake Highlands). O'Dea joined the group from Tulsa when they were attending the U of A.

The company, which started with one employee, has since added 11 more full-time positions, with plans to grow. Fayettechill gear is available in 29 retail outlets as well as their own two retail stores. Lewis and Clark and Pack-Rat are among the long list of retailers that carry Elliott's designs. All of the Fayettechill merchandise is available online.

A reduction in real estate holdings and the monetary value of problem loans is the top reason why Arkansas bank income was up more than 30% during the first quarter of 2013.

The 126 financial institutions operating in Arkansas during the first quarter posted cumulative net income of $197 million, according to a May 29 report from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). The first quarter income was up 30.6% compared to 2012 first quarter income of $147 million, and well ahead of the $137 million tally for the first quarter of 2011.

However, the income gains among Arkansas banks narrowed during the quarter. Only 44.4% of the 126 reporting institutions posted income gains, down from 61.9% during the 2012 quarter and down from 59.06% in the 2011 quarter. Also, 10.32% of Arkansas banks reported losses in the quarter, a sizeable increase compared to the 3.17% during the 2012 quarter and the 6.3% in the 2011 quarter.

Nationally, net income for all FDIC banks totaled $40.3 billion, up 15.8% compared to the first quarter of 2012.

“The primary reason for improvement in earnings is the reduction in loan loss provisions. Charged-off loans have declined this year as the economy has gradually improved and the real estate markets have improved,” said Sam T. Sicard, president and CEO of Fort Smith-based First Bank Corp.

The bank holding company operates several banks, including First National Bank of Fort Smith and First National Bank of Rogers.

LOAN DEMAND
Sicard said low interest rates and “relatively weak loan demand” has put negative pressure on the ability to generate interest income. But the weak demand may not be a persistent problem.

“Loan demand has strengthened somewhat in the (second) quarter, particularly in Northwest Arkansas where the increase in home sales has created a stronger demand for residential construction loans,” Sicard explained.

Real Estate Owned (REO), a key banking industry metric in the years following the real estate bubble, has improved for Arkansas banks. During the first quarter of 2013, REO totaled $740 million among the 126 reporting banks. The amount is down from $778 million and down almost 10% compared to the $820 million in the first quarter of 2011.

The picture was similar nationwide.

The amount of loans and leases held by all U.S. banks that were 90 days or more past due or in nonaccrual status declined by $15.7 billion during the first quarter of 2013. The improvement was led by residential mortgage loans, where problem loan balances fell by $8.7 billion (5%), and troubled real estate construction and development loans declined by $2.2 billion (12.7%).

“At the end of March, noncurrent loan balances totaled $261.2 billion, the lowest level since year-end 2008,” noted the FDIC report.

ALL METRIC GAINS
Don Gibson, CEO of Legacy National Bank in Northwest Arkansas, said the first quarter of 2013 was better than 2012 in all metric areas.

“OREO continues to be resolved except for raw land. Loan demand is not robust but improving and should continue improving throughout the year. I do expect profitability to continue to improve with some volume increases and continue resolution of non-earning assets,” Gibson said.

Also reporting improvements is Little Rock-based Metropolitan National Bank, one of the harder hit banks in Arkansas when the Northwest Arkansas real estate market fell apart in 2008. The bank posted first quarter profits of roughly $622,000, reversing a $1 million loss in the prior-year period.

“Our recent profits are due to the bank shrinking non-performing assets by more than $46 million within the past six months,” said Lunsford Bridges, president and CEO of Metropolitan National Bank. “We anticipate Metropolitan’s trend of lowering problem assets and increasing core earnings to continue throughout 2013 and beyond.”

Like Sicard with First Bank Corp., Bridges is also seeing an increase in loan demand.

Jim Patridge, based in Fort Smith and president of the West/South Division of Tupelo-based BancorpSouth, said improvements in the housing market are helping boost profits. However, he said “continuing compression” of margins from the record low interest rates and a growing regulatory burden could be problematic for the banking sector.

Patridge said further reductions in REO and other improvements have continued into the second quarter.

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS GROWTH
Signature Bank, with primary operations in the healthy Northwest Arkansas economy, reported a first quarter profit of $288,000, which was more than expected by bank officials.

“Our real estate holdings are way down. We have just one home in Bentonville and three fairly large commercial pieces that are located in prime locations which are the majority of our non-performing assets,” said Gary Head, CEO of Signature Bank. “We are encouraged by what we are seeing in the residential market. Several new home builders we lend to can’t keep up with the demand. We lend on a spec house and it’s sold before completion given the tight supply.”
 
Head said loan demand is improving because of business expansions and increased investments in the residential rental market. He expects bank profits to improve throughout the year, saying “community banks are mirror images of the neighborhoods they serve and it’s good see to growth and business expansion across the entire region.”

Arkansas banking statistics from the FDIC report include:
• Total employees (full-time equivalent) during the first quarter of 2013 numbered 18,827, up from 18,001 in the first quarter of 2012 and more than the 17,591 during the 2011 quarter;
• Total asset value during the first quarter among the Arkansas banks was $62.45 billion, ahead of the $60.054 billion in the first quarter of 2012; and,
• Total deposits during the first quarter was $51.367 billion, up from the $49.367 billion in the 2012 quarter and well ahead of the $45.993 billion in the 2011 quarter.

Nationwide stats from the FDIC report include:
• The number of FDIC-insured institutions reporting financial results fell to 7,019 in the first quarter, down from 7,083 in fourth quarter 2012;
• Mergers absorbed 55 institutions during the quarter, and four institutions failed. (This is the smallest number of failures in a quarter since second quarter 2008.);
• For a seventh consecutive quarter, no new insured institutions were added;
• Except for charters created to absorb failed banks, there have been no new charters added since fourth quarter 2010;
• The number of insured institutions on the FDIC’s “Problem List” declined for an eighth consecutive quarter, from 651 to 612; and,
• The number of full-time equivalent employees at insured institutions fell from 2,110,276 to 2,102,839 during the quarter.

America's Car-Mart Inc.opened its 125th dealership on Friday (May 31).

The newest location is in Grove, Okla., and is the first new store to open in the company’s fiscal 2014 year.

Car-Mart continues to grow at 10% annually as the buy here, pay here car dealer fills in markets within a ten-state area across the South-central U.S.

Shares of Car-Mart (Nasdaq: CRMT) closed the week at $45.08, down 78 cents on light volume. For the past 52-weeks the share price has ranged from a low $35.81 to a high $50.59.

Tyson Foods Inc. on Monday continued to accelerate the expansion of its value-added foods portfolio acquiring of the assets of Circle Foods. This deal is in line with Tyson’s efforts to expand its valued-added sales and move further away from the lower margin – raw commodity processing.

California-based Circle Foods makes frozen and refrigerated handheld Mexican foods, uncooked tortillas and Indian flatbreads, for Claridge Food Group.

Terms of the acquisition, which was completed June 1, were not disclosed. Tyson Foods said it does not plan any significant operational changes and intends to keep the existing Circle Foods management and production team in place to grow the business. The operation has approximately 600 full-time employees and has been in operation for 25 years.

"Claridge and the Circle Foods team have developed an outstanding portfolio of products and customers, with a fantastic plant and workforce, and will be an excellent fit within our branded consumer products group," said Donnie Smith, president and CEO of Tyson Foods. "We believe Tyson's robust sales structure, as well as our frozen and refrigerated foods distribution system, will enable this business to accelerate its growth."

In recent months Smith vowed to increase Tyson’s value-added sales by 6 to 8% which is about $1 billion annually.

"Our strategy is to accelerate our growth in domestic value-added poultry and Prepared Foods, as well as international poultry, and we're executing that strategy," Smith said during the company’s Feb. 1 earnings call.

Last year roughly 45% of Tyson Foods’ sales came from value-added products. That was $15 billion of the $33.3 billion the meat giant posted in total revenue, according to analysts with Fitch Rating Service.

"We are delighted to see the transition of Circle Foods to Tyson Foods, who are committed to continue the growth of the business. Right from the beginning when we met the Tyson people and organization we knew we had an excellent partner we could work with on this transaction," said Stephen Bronfman, executive chairman of Claridge. "We are confident that Circle Foods will flourish under Tyson's ownership."

The brands involved in this acquisitions include: NUEVO GRILLE® and TORTILLALAND® handheld Mexican products, TORTILLALAND® uncooked tortillas and ROTILAND® Indian flatbreads.

The company, which operates a 159,000 square-foot plant in San Diego, also produces private label products for various customers. The plant produces frozen burritos, chimichangas, enchiladas, quesadillas, tacos and tamales, as well as tortillas and Indian flat breads, which are sold at major grocers across the country including Walmart and Safeway.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe and officials with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock announced Monday (June 3) the opening of a more than $5 million analytics center that is being labeled a “game changer” for economic development and higher education in Arkansas.

UALR Chancellor Joel Anderson and Beebe unveiled the opening of the new UALR George W. Donaghey Emerging Analytics Center (EAC). The EAC’s goal is to provide competitive, visionary data solutions for the region and state in an academic environment.

The EAC, located on the fourth floor of UALR’s Engineering and Information Technology building, features data visualization systems that are among the first of their kind in the world. The EAC has three development and promotional partnerships, Mechdyne Corporation, HP, and Today’s Office.
 
These systems, including the EmergiFLEX and the Mobile EmergiFLEX systems, were custom designed and built for UALR by Mechdyne Corp, a leading provider of visual information technologies based in Marshalltown, Iowa.
 
A number of technologies are integrated for the EAC to serve a diverse group, including partners in business, sciences, healthcare, education, and engineering, according to a statement from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.

Linked through fiber optics to UALR’s Computational Research Center, the facility includes 35 screens and monitors with more than 50 million pixels offering high definition resolution for both 2D and 3D applications.
 
Unique features include a massive, 24 screen reconfigurable video wall providing 3D data immersion with additional 3D floor projection; the latest haptic interface technology to “touch” the data with force feedback sensations; and advanced video collaboration tools that include new robotic “telepresence” equipment.

Made possible by a grant of more than $5 million from the George W. Donaghey Foundation, the EAC is led by Dr. Mary Good, UALR special advisor to the chancellor for economic development. The grant provides funding for a full-time, post-doctoral staff member working in data science, two specialized graduate students, and technical and operational support personnel.

“The EAC and its potential to positively impact on large and small businesses in Arkansas are critical to our state’s economic growth,” she said. “It will give all of us a competitive edge and position us for a bright future in the era of big data.”
 
According to Good, big data provides the next frontier in discovery, business and society, as more data is produced, stored and analyzed. New U.S. federal research programs at the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are aimed at analyzing and using the flood of available information.

“The Emerging Analytics Center is a visionary initiative to capitalize on the growing demand for data-driven solutions in both the public and private sectors,” Beebe said in the statement. “The center will also be an important tool for economic development by helping us target new and expanding industries as we work to create Arkansas jobs.”
 
The center will use the faculty and resources of UALR’s academic offerings and research in advanced data science and data analytics, which already include advanced computational research, information quality, and virtual reality (3-D immersive environments). In addition, there will be a statewide set of activities for education and economic development.
 
Also on Monday, Grant Tennille, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, introduced the center’s new Data Science Advisory Board. The board is comprised of regional and national leaders from academia, industry, and government working to provide ongoing input for the center. The board members are:
• Good:
• Michael Armistead, U.S. sales manager for Hewlett-Packard;
• Nick Brown, president and CEO, Southwest Power Pool;
• Christopher Clover, CEO Mechdyne Corp.;
• Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira; University of Louisiana at Lafayette;
• Mike Hodapp, director of eCommerce and digital marketing, Dillard’s
• Debbie Gracio; Battele-Pacific Northwest National Laboratory;
• David Hollenbach, president and CEO, DSoft Technology;
• Charlie Lambert; president, SkySentry
• Dr. Melinda Montgomery; Entergy Arkansas
• Dr. Phil Mui, Acxiom, chief product and engineering officer;
• Dr. T. Glenn Pait, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences;
• Dr. William Raduchel, technology advisor;
• Dr. William Slikker, National Center for Toxicological Research;
• Tennille; and,
• Dr. Henry Tufo, University of Colorado at Boulder.

What used to be a business of locally-owned and operated dental clinics in cities small and large alike is transforming into corporate-structured operations with name brands seen not just across multiple cities, but multiple states.

Leigh Scott, director of Market Operations at Smile Brands, the parent company of Monarch Dental, said the journey of dentist offices from locally-owned and operated to a corporate type of operation is similar to what has happened in other medical fields throughout American history.

"It's an interesting journey we're on in health care, and it's not isolated to dentistry," she said. "If you look back in time, the neighborhood pharmacy was a private practice and there are fewer and fewer now. It's become less fragmented."

The same thing has happened in the field of optometry and general family practice medicine, where more doctors are working in clinics owned by large hospital chains versus owning their own practices.

According to Scott, much of the change to a corporate structure within medicine and dentistry, in particular, can be attributed to two factors – patient needs and physician quality of life.

She said in the field of dentistry, by joining a large practice, practitioners do not have to worry about general business operations, such as billing, and instead could focus on patient care.

With regards to patient care, Scott, who worked in a private practice before coming to Smile Brands, said patients are demanding more as the economy has been shaky during the last several years.

"As patients demand better pricing, more access to care, and better locations, the industry responds to that," she said.

Kevin Offel, president and CEO of My Dentist, said patients at his company are able to receiving "complete care dentistry."

"My Dentist patients benefit from the availability of same day service, maximization of insurance benefits via in-network providers, affordable financial arrangements, first-class facilities and much more. Patients also have the flexibility of transferring to another My Dentist office, if applicable, when relocating out of an existing practice's geographical area," he said in an e-mail.

The financial side of things has been a driving force in the growth of these firms, Scott said. At Monarch, which has offices in Fort Smith and Fayetteville, she said patients can be approved for credit lines starting at $500 simply by having a driver's license and a checking account, which allows them to receive the dental care needed without necessarily having to hold dental insurance or good credit.

Offel did not provide details on his firm's financing options, but he said My Dentist, with locations in Fayetteville and Springdale and an office under construction in Van Buren, worked with patients to meet their financial needs.

"Because we are able to accept so many insurance types and offer multiple financing options to all patients, we would be the better alternative for patients that might not be able to afford dental health care," he said.

For patients who have no insurance, larger firms are able to offer some services at discounted rates, as well, according to Scott. She mentioned the ConfiDent Discount Program, which specifically targets non-insured patients.

"(It is) for patients without insurance. Those patients are paying full-price while others have insurance paying some (of the cost of a visit), but cash patients are paying full retail," Scott said. "(ConfiDent offers a discount) off of our normal fees."

While there is an enrollment fee to join the program, Scott said it offered discounts to patients which could be up to 40% on some procedures, though not all dental offerings were covered.

The one benefit specifically highlighted by Scott and Offel were more specialized services. Offel said, "My Dentist doctors are trained in all dental treatment options, including endodontics, dentures and dental implants."

Scott said each Monarch office varied, though she said many offices offer, "orthodontics, some offices have pariodontics (implants and gum surgeries), as well as some oral surgery opportunities."

While the amount of corporate clinics remains limited across the Fort Smith and Northwest Arkansas areas, the growth of these types of dental offices does not appear to be slowing.

With My Dentist's Van Buren location, the company has expanded to three clinics in Arkansas with a presence in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and Missouri, as well. Meanwhile, Monarch, which bought its Fort Smith and Fayetteville clinics in 1997, continues to expand with more than 400 locations nationwide.

The world’s largest retailer does things in a big way, and its annual shareholder week is certainly no exception.

Roughly 14,000 are expected to fill Bud Walton Arena early Friday morning for Wal-Mart’s annual shareholder bash which will be a larger-than-life celebration of 51-years in the retail business.

Shareholders never know who will show up to join the celebration. In recent year’s they have been treated to musical performances from the likes of Celine Dion, Lionel Richie, Mariah Carey, Josh Groban, Taylor Swift and the Zac Brown Band and hosted by Ben Stiller, Jamie Foxx and Justin Timberlake.

But shareholder week is much more than the star-studded pep rally/business meeting set for Friday morning (June 7). Roughly 5,000 Wal-Mart employees will again attend this year’s event as representatives gather from the 27 countries where Wal-Mart operates 69 banners. These international and domestic delegates are nominated by peers in their stores to make the expense-paid trip and they routinely stay in residence halls at the University of Arkansas.

Steve Voorhies, manager of media relations at the University of Arkansas, said international visitors began signing in yesterday afternoon (Sunday, June 2). He said Wal-Mart reserved 4,609 beds on campus and several meals in the dining hall that will bring in roughly $1 million to the combined university auxiliaries helping with this year’s event. Voorhies added it is nice for the university to get this international exposure each year and the auxiliaries providing services for the week are paid by Wal-Mart as follows:
• Dining $500,000
• Housing $400,000
• Security $134,275, with $83,635 going to the UA police
• Parking $70,000
• Facilities $5,200
• Telephone $350

He said the sports arena works its out own deal with Wal-Mart which includes charges for event set up.

Dianna Gee, spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, said 30 bus loads of employees from stores around the U.S. are also arriving today (june 3) and early tomorrow for the week’s festivities and meetings that begin early Wednesday morning. She said the visitors tour local stores, the Wal-mart Visitor’s Center, Walton’s Five and Dime in downtown Bentonville as well as several other areas of interest.

For Wal-Mart and local hospitality venues it’s all hands on deck this week with corporate employees ushering and chaperoning store employees to and from roughly a dozen events during the next five days.

Another group of store employees made their way to Northwest Arkansas this week as well, but they are not celebrating. Roughly 100 representatives from OUR Walmart, an affiliate of the United Food Commercial Workers International Union, picketed outside Wal-Mart’s home office on Monday morning and plan to demonstrate at several other events throughout the week. 

OUR Walmart is a national organization of Walmart employees speaking out for a stronger company and economy and has been calling on the nation’s largest private

Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogleman said the annual shareholder's meeting is a time of a celebration as the company invites thousands of its employees from around the world to take part in the festivities which also includes interaction with company leadership.

"The union and its OUR Walmart subsidiary are comprised of a very small number of people, most of whom aren't even Wal-Mart associates and don't represent the views of the vast majority of people who work at Wal-Mart," Fogleman said.

Wal-Mart also invites its employees to two music concerts early in the week, Elton John will rock Bud Walton Arena on Tuesday night to a sell-out crowd of roughly 14,000. Country artist Luke Bryan is taking the stage on Wednesday night, and TicketMaster notes on its website that all tickets for this concert are also gone.

Just under 100 members of media from all over the world have registered to cover this year’s event and some 20,000 people are expected to tune into Friday’s meeting via webcast.

Nearly two years after the state’s unemployment insurance (UI) trust fund found itself $360 million in the hole, Gov. Mike Beebe (D) says the jobless safety net has paid back nearly half its federal debt and is operating in the black.

In his weekly radio address, Beebe singled out the UI trust fund and outlined what has transpired to pull the fund balance out of the red.

The trust fund, which is financed through payroll taxes that companies pay on their employees, was hit hard when jobless claims skyrocketed during the recession and early recovery years.

The debt began growing during the 2008-2009 U.S. recession, and the subsequent “jobless recovery.” As of April 2013, Arkansas’ jobless rate has stubbornly held above 7% for 51 consecutive months. Between April 2009 and February 2012 the number of unemployed topped 100,000. Even after falling below 100,000, the number of unemployed has remained high and was estimated at 95,154 during April 2013. Prior to the recession, the number of unemployed hovered around 70,000.

Those circumstances led the fund to borrow heavily from the federal government, raising concerns about how the state would repay its advances.

As of May 2011, Arkansas owed more than $343 million that accumulated through federal government advances to help pay unemployment benefits. During a May 2012 interview, Artee Williams, the director of Arkansas’ Department of Workforce Services, said he was confident the more than $310 million debt owed by the state to the federal government will be repaid no later than 2015.

The governor, Arkansas legislators, and business leaders changed a number of provisions in the 2009 and 2011 legislative sessions to repair the trust fund’s solvency.

Act 861, signed in 2011, eliminated wage indexing, reduced Arkansas jobless benefits from 26 to 25 weeks, and set new eligibility requirements for workers seeking unemployment. The changes were estimated to save $60 million to $75 million.Two years ago, the reforms were projected to lead the state to be debt-free by 2015 and it appears on track to do so.

Beebe said during his recent radio remarks:
“Two years have passed, and we’ve reached an important milestone. We are still paying back the federal government, but the total has dropped by almost half to $193 million. Meanwhile, the Trust Fund has been replenished and now has a $205 million balance. It’s the first time in four years that we’ve had a positive overall balance in our Unemployment Insurance Program.

“Although we now have a positive balance, we’re not going to exhaust it by immediately paying off the rest of the federal advances. We need to keep a healthy balance in the trust fund to handle anticipated new unemployment claims for the rest of this year, as well as for any unexpected employment shifts. We still expect to complete our repayments to the federal government next year. And, when that happens, businesses will see their full federal tax credits restored.”

Fresh is the sexiest consumable category in grocery today, according to New Market Builders CEO Carol Spieckerman, so it’s no surprise that Wal-Mart is upping the ante with a 100% money-back guarantee.

As the nation’s largest grocery chain Wal-Mart has a lot to gain or lose in this new “fresh” game. So the retail giant said Monday (June 3) it is standing behind its promise to ensure the quality and freshness of the fruits and vegetables it sells.

"We're listening to our customers and delivering on our promise to offer great produce at the most affordable price," said Jack Sinclair, executive vice president of the food business for Walmart U.S. "We are so sure our customers will be pleased with the fruits and vegetables they buy in our stores, they can receive a full refund if they aren't completely happy."

Grocery accounts for 55% of the sales revenue at Walmart US, to the tune of $151 billion last year.

Spieckerman said fresh is “everywhere” as convenient stores, drug stores, upscale urban markets and dollar stores are all in the ‘fresh’ game because it’s a major trip driver for consumers. She also warns that it raises the performance bar for grocers because consumers expecting “fresh” are unforgiving when they don’t find it as advertised.

Wal-Mart said it has invested in expanded training for 70,000 of its employees who will ensure that fresh produce is stocked and restocked in its stores across the country. Sinclair said this training is key to the program’s success. To improve quality and freshness, Wal-Mart has hired produce experts to work directly with farmers in the key growing regions where the company has produce-buying offices.

Spieckerman said fresh can be challenging logistically because produce items don’t sit in a warehouse but they have to be transported from farm to store, often within 24 hours of harvest.

Wal-Mart said its focus on local farm sourcing since 2010 and ongoing efforts to streamline the supply chain have reduced the number of days produce is in transit to ensure the freshest fruits and vegetables get to its customers. The retailer also has hired third party teams to go into its stores and check produce departments each week. The results are then reported to every level of store management, according to the company release.

Berne Evans III, chairman of Sun Pacific and produce supplier, noted in the release that Wal-Mart efforts to store and handle produce “both its Cuties ,Ripe and Easy Kiwis have been tremendous sales success stories” for his firm. Sinclair said if customers are not completely satisfied with Wal-Mart's produce, they can bring back their receipt for a full refund. No questions asked and there is no need to return the produce.

The Wal-Mart guarantee follows similar offers at Safeway Inc. and Texas'-based H-E-B.

Wal-Mart was a granted a temporary restraining order against the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and its affiliate OUR Walmart by a Benton County Circuit Court Judge late Monday (June 3).

More than 100 representatives from OUR Wal-Mart and the UFCW made their way to Bentonville this week to stand up for what they say are needed changes within the retailer’s employment practices.The group includes several Wal-Mart employees who are on strike this week.

They peacefully demonstrated outside Wal-Mart’s home office in Bentonville early Monday morning, but they will not be allowed to disrupt the business in Wal-Mart Stores, according to the order.  

The restraining order excludes Wal-Mart employees and is valid until an evidentiary hearing can be held on Friday (June 7),  according to Wal-Mart spokesman Kory Lundberg, who spoke with The City Wire about the filing.

“We are pleased by the court's ruling preventing the union activists from further illegally trespassing on our property in Arkansas. We look forward to continuing the process on Friday morning,” Lundberg said.

He said many of the retailer’s employees have raised concerns about the ongoing demonstrations being staged by the union and their activists.

“They (union activists) have ignored all of the previous requests to stop trespassing at our stores – even requests from police. We are standing up for the rights of our associates and customers, as well as our own private property rights and have asked a judge to order these non-associate union activists to stop trespassing on our property,” Lundberg noted in an company statement.

Wal-Mart said this legal action is an attempt to prevent disruptions to its business, recalling an incident that occurred Oct. 10 in the Rogers Walmart Store No. 1. Derek Fouts, a customer service manager at Rogers store, told The City Wire that more than 100 protestors from the aforementioned group rushed into the store and grabbed almost all the shopping carts locking the doors behind them.

He said they gathered near the front of the store and began chanting and beating on pots and pans making customers, employees and children in the store uncomfortable. Fouts said the protestors proceeded to fill up the shopping carts in what he called a register dump.

“They grabbed meats, frozen food and other perishables stormed the check-out lines and unloaded the basket onto the conveyor belt and let the cashier ring up the entire purchase. Then they said they didn’t want it, we call that a register dump,” Fouts said.

He said those working in the store at the time were tasked with putting the merchandise back in addition to their normal duties.

“Some of the product was lost because by the time we got around to restocking it all, the most perishable had been out of freezer or cold element too long.” he said.

Fouts found it ironic that the group said it was protesting for better working conditions but their actions created more work and an uncomfortable situation for those employees in the Rogers store.

“While we respect the rights of people with differing opinions to express those opinions, what the union is doing clearly goes beyond what the law allows. No reasonable person thinks it’s ok to walk into a business and try to disrupt it by frightening customers and disrespecting the people working there,“ Lundberg noted.

In response the restraining order, Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization of Women (NOW), said this is Wal-Mart’s latest attempt to silence the voices that are calling for real change at the nation’s larger employer.

“Instead of listening to its employees and the communities that make the company successful, Walmart – a company with billions in profits and all the lawyers it could ever need — is attacking working families and community groups ... shame on Wal-Mart."   

0’Neill plans to join the group in Bentonville on Wednesday to support OUR Walmart members like Amy Stinnett, a single mother working as a service desk associate at Walmart in Placerville, Calif.

"OUR Walmart is committed to helping Wal-Mart become a better company for associates, customers and shareholders. The concerns that we're raising about understaffing and stocking problems impact Wal-Mart's bottom line, and we want to be sure shareholders know what's really going on … We will continue to raise our voices this week in Bentonville, in our stores at home and until there is a real change of course at Wal-Mart," Stinnett noted in an email.

Tax collections are up almost 5% in Arkansas for the first 11 months of the fiscal year, with the numbers presenting an uncertain trend with respect to consumer spending.

For the first 11 months of Arkansas’ fiscal year (July 2012-May 2013), total tax collections are $5.592 billion, up 4.7% above the same period in the previous year, and above forecast by 2.6%, or $141 million. Arkansas two largest revenue sources are individual income tax collections and sales and use tax collections.

The Arkansas Department of Finance & Administration reported the collections on Tuesday (June 4).

Year-to-date individual income tax collections total $2.859 billion, 8.2% higher than the 2012 period. The revenues were 6.2% above forecast. Individual income tax collections during May were $201.1 million, down 2.3% compared to 2012, but 1.9% above forecast.

Sales and use tax collections for the fiscal year total $1.94 billion, up just 0.9% compared to the 2012 period, and 1.4% below forecast.

And while the 11-month trend shows a decline in consumer spending, the May report had sales and use tax collections at $183.9 million, up 7% compared to May 2012 and 2.6% above forecast. Total May revenue was $443.2 million, up $9.3 million compared to May 2012, and 2.9% above the budget forecast.

“Results for gross revenue were mainly driven by rebound in sales tax collections, which surged 7.0 percent compared to year ago May levels. This compares to only 0.9 percent in the year-to-date 11-month period of FY 2013 and a 2.5 percent decline recorded in April collections,” John Shelnutt, head of the Department of Finance and Administration’s Economic Analysis & Tax Research division, said in the report. “Individual Income tax collections also contributed to collection gains in May as withholding collections continued to perform well at 4.7 percent growth and overall results exceeded forecast by $3.8 million or 1.9 percent.”

Income tax refunds for the first 11 months of the fiscal year totaled $471.9 million, down 0.2% compared to the prior-year period, and 4.6% below forecast. During April, the refunds totaled $39.9 million, up 21.2% compared to May 2012, and up 16% above forecast.

“The gains follow filing delays at the IRS and among states early in the tax filing season,” Shelnutt explained.

Year-to-date corporate income taxes totaled $359.5 million, up 1.7% from the 2012 year-to-date period, and below the forecast by about $700,000.

OTHER TAX COLLECTIONS
Alcoholic beverage
July 2012 - May 2013: $46.6 million
July 2011 - May 2012: $45.1 million

Games of skill
July 2012 - May 2013: $32.6 million
July 2011 - May 2012: $24.8 million

Tobacco
July 2012 - May 2013: $209.5 million
July 2011 - May 2012: $220.3 million

Insurance
July 2012 - May 2013: $65.1 million
July 2011 - May 2012: $65.8 million

COLLECTIONS HISTORY
Fiscal year 2012 marked the second year of year-over-year gains. Arkansas tax collections reversed a negative two-year slide in the 2011 fiscal year, with collections up 4.5% in the July 2010-June 2011 period.

State tax collections for fiscal year 2011 totaled $5.673 billion, up 4.5% above the $5.43 billion in the 2010 period. Total state revenue of $5.43 billion in fiscal year 2010 was 2.4% below the previous fiscal year and marked the second consecutive year of revenue decline.

The biggest declines in the 2009 and 2010 fiscal years were with individual income tax collections and sales and use tax collections.

Four insurance carriers submitted letters of intent to participate in Arkansas forthcoming health insurance exchanges, according to the Arkansas Insurance Department.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arkansas, Celtic/Novasys, QualChoice of Arkansas, and national Blue Cross Blue Shield met a Monday, June 3 deadline to announce their plans to bid for the state’s insurance exchange, known as the Health Insurance Marketplace (HIM).

The exchange is an outcome of the federal health care law, which requires states to set up an online marketplace to allow consumers to shop for health insurance plans. The federal law and a new state plan known as the “private option” are expected to steer more than 500,000 Arkansans into the exchange to receive standard plans or subsidized insurance.

“I am pleased with the level of participation the industry continues to show,” said Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford. “It has always been my desire, and in the best interest of the Arkansas consumer, to have as much competition and choice as possible on the Health Insurance Marketplace.”

Along with their intent to participate, these companies submitted their planned service areas for 2014 which will be reviewed for adequacy. The Arkansas Healthcare Independence Act of 2013 requires that consumers in each of Arkansas’s 75 counties have a choice among at least two health insurance issuers.

Exchange Planning Director Cynthia Crone said, “We are encouraged with this response to the new Marketplace and anticipate the competition will keep premium prices low for all Arkansans.”

Open enrollment for the HIM begins Oct. 1, 2013, and continues until March 31, 2014.

Rep. John Burris, R-Harrison, the House chairman of the Public Health committee and a main architect of the state’s private option plan, said he’s “very satisfied” in the number of participants.

“Our major goal for controlling costs was increasing carrier competition. We’ve doubled our number in year one. That’s a good start,” Burris said.

He also expects other carriers may eventually enter the Arkansas market.
“Coventry Healthcare was just bought out by Aetna,” Burris said. “And United Healthcare has always said that it may wait a year before participating.”

With depression reported as a leading cause of lost productivity in the United States, a new initiative encourages companies to invest in their workforce to gain healthier, more productive employees, as well as achieve decreased disability costs, less turnover and better retention of valued employees, according to the national coalition Employers Health.

A Harvard University Medical School study suggested that untreated mental illness cost U.S. businesses $105 billion in lost productivity alone. A 2011 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimated that 45.6 million adults (18+) suffer from a form of mental illness, or 19.6% of all Americans. Of the 45.6 million, the DHS study estimated that 38.2 million received some treatment during the previous 12 months.

The Ohio-based Employers Health has teamed with the American Psychiatric Foundation's Partnership for Workplace Mental Health to create the program Right Direction to raise awareness about depression in the workplace and its effect on productivity, promote early recognition of symptoms, and reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness.

An official with the Springdale-based Ozark Guidance endorsed the initiative. David Duerr, a credentialed human resources professional and the community mental health center's director of business services, applauded the program and called it part of a growing movement.

Ozark Guidance is "taking the lead of taking 'mental health first aid' into Arkansas," he said, explaining the term is comparable to CPR training. "This is the aid we render to somebody" until professionals can take over.

Mental health first aid is a national program that Ozark Guidance uses to train Northwest Arkansas managers and HR professionals on "the signs and symptoms of the most common mental illnesses. Those signs are depression, anxiety disorders – which are more common than mood disorders including depression – as well as substance abuse, eating disorders and so on," Duerr said, adding the program includes empathetic listening skills, "how you talk to somebody with these symptoms or who is in immediate crisis."

"Employee satisfaction and well-being are strongly linked to business success, which is just one of the many reasons it's important to support those experiencing depression in the workplace," Marcas Miles, a representative of Employers Health in Ohio, said in a press release.

Despite advances in treatments, only one-third of people with diagnosable mental health conditions seek care, according to the release.

Most people won't seek mental health care on their own, Duerr said, in part due to lack of knowledge, the stigma of such disorders or worries over health insurance coverage.

While details remain in the planning stages, the federal Affordable Care Act, where universal health care coverage begins Jan. 1, should help more workers be covered for treatment of common mental disorders, he said.

"We will have 250,000 more people covered in Arkansas than now,” Duerr predicted.

Duerr added that Medicaid will be covering the most serious psychiatric afflictions.

Anxiety and mood disorders, substance abuse and similar problems generally begin to hit people in the prime of their working years, their 20s and early 30s, he said, noting that depression can either be episodic, over a personal crisis, or chronic, a continuing condition.

"I think HR professionals in general are aware of the numbers" of people with these conditions, Duerr said. "They know these conditions are costing companies money. Yet, there's things, like confidentiality and privacy factors, that limit what they can do. So their action is more a reaction. They don't take action until there's a performance problem. Then there's action taken."

Most Arkansas employers are small with "just a few, which you can list on one hand, with over 500 employees," he said. "HR offices are hard-pressed, by their own limited resources, to be pro-active. Bigger ones can be." Duerr explained that HR staffs can shepherd an employee with an emotional issue by suggesting professional care and details on what their insurance policies will cover.

Depression costs businesses through employee absenteeism, disability and lost productivity. The last is a sign of what Employers Health called "presenteeism."

Duerr said the human resources profession started using the term presenteeism about seven years ago to describe showing up for work physically but mentally not being there. While depression is a major reason for presenteeism, Ozark Guidance's Duerr also cited anxiety disorders and even hangovers.

"We come to work when we're under duress. We see that maybe it's safer at work, maybe over a problem at home. Or we need a paycheck so we drag ourselves to work," he said.

"Here in Arkansas, businesses understand the value of a good employee, they want to help keep them, and help them through the rough times."

The national Right Direction program is centered on its free Field Guide toolkit of educational presentations and promotional materials.

"We want to encourage information-seeking behavior around depression, help employees get healthy through a variety of resources and tools, and help employers improve the health of their bottom line through improved work performance, increased productivity, decreased absenteeism and, importantly, improved job satisfaction," said Clare Miller, director of the American Psychiatric Foundation's Partnership for Workplace Mental Health.

In an otherwise bleak economic climate during the last several years, Franklin County appears to stand out from the crowd.

Not only has unemployment dropped from a peak of 8% in January to 6.7% in April, the most recent month data was available, but the county has also seen an increase in sales tax revenue collections, according to Royce Gattis, first vice president and treasurer of the Ozark Area Chamber of Commerce.

"Our tax collections, and to me that's a barometer of how the economy is going, I predicted it would either meet or surpass the highest collection ever in 2008," said Gattis, who also serves as chairman of the chamber's economic development committee. "In 2012, we passed it in hospitality, A&P and use tax."

Ozark Mayor Carol Sneath said a lot had driven the recent economic development in and around the county's largest city and county seat.

"During that period of time, the I-40 travel center opened up. Also, the Woolsey Dental Clinic (opened) and I believe there was an operation south of the river, which is not in our jurisdiction, but that added some jobs."

Gattis said other businesses that have hired recently include the county's newest Dollar General as well as Bank of the Ozarks.

The county has also benefitted from student growth at the Ozark campus of Arkansas Tech University. Between 2006 and 2012, the campus saw an enrollment increase of 562% and the addition of 16 new academic and technical programs. In fall 2012, enrollment at Arkansas Tech-Ozark Campus rose above 2,000 students for the first time ever.

WORKFORCE CHANGES
Even with the improvement in unemployment figures in just four months, Gattis said he and others within the chamber and the government are realistic about the ever-changing economic environment.

"Unless you look at what your previous workforce was and current, it takes about 80 people to move our unemployment rate 1% either way," he said.

Information from the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services lists a labor force in Franklin County of 7,800 people. But, during 2009, the county had a workforce of 8,150 people, meaning from then to today, 350 people have left the working world.

"It's not because they moved out of the county, it's because they stopped looking for work," Gattis said.

To continue the growth the county has had and also create new jobs for those still looking and possibly bring those who have left the workforce back into the fold, he said innovative economic development would continue to be key.

There is a lot of interest in the area of exit 35 on Interstate 40, Gattis said, including the possibility of a hotel coming to the area. A hospitality-based business would be a logical addition to the area due to the high number of tourists that have started to visit Franklin County for music festivals each year.

MUSIC FESTIVAL BENEFIT
Wakarusa, which featured acts such Of Monsters and Men and Snoop Lion (formerly Snoop Dog), concluded on Sunday (June 2) and Thunder on the Mountain, a country music festival featuring Toby Keith and Luke Bryan, will begin Thursday (June 6).

"The events that we've tried to have to bring visitors into Ozark have been very successful," Gattis said. "(Wakarusa) brings about 20,000 people into the county. The other music festivals (are) about 8,000-10,000 for their three-day events."

Sneath said the increase in tax collection due to the festivals resulted in about a 10% increase in tax collection every year.

"You have to remember that a lot of the facilities have been developed up at the venue itself," she said. "They have more facilities to accommodate those individuals. The city does not get an impact on that, but the county does get an impact on that."

Franklin County as a destination for music and festivals is somewhat new, with Wakarusa taking place in the area for about five years, according to Gattis, though he said any further growth from those festivals may be limited in future years.

"They've expanded the events, but Wakarusa itself, they limit the tickets. There won't be any new growth in that. They are selling the limits of tickets each year. There's a ceiling. It is put in place by the organization that promotes it and the owners of the venue. It's just a common-sense decision that it will handle X number of people that's where they'll cut it off."

FUTURE GROWTH
While the county may not be able to further capitalize off of the music festivals, they are trying to make Franklin County a destination worth visiting at other times of the year.

Gattis said a riverfront development along the banks of the Arkansas River is in the works, in addition to other development in downtown Ozark. In addition, he notes an expansion of Post Winery in Altus as a tourist attraction and an economic stimulator.

To keep up with expected future growth, Sneath said a new road between Ozark High School and Highway 23 was spurring interest.

"We have had some developers make some inquiries in the area in regards to new housing. That's something Ozark desperately needs, whether rentals or new homes."

She said plants in the area have expanded operations or are planning to, such as Baldor Electric Co. and Great Lakes Carbon, which she said would be making a $26 million expansion to its Ozark facility and should bring with it additional jobs, though she said she could not quote numbers until details are finalized.

With all of the growth during the last several years, Gattis has expressed excitement at the future. Just since January, the county has added 75 workers to the overall labor force and he expects that to continue.

"People want to be part of a winning team and we have a winning team now," he said.

Sneath echoed those sentiments, saying Ozark and Franklin County would continue to move forward.

"Just keep an eye on us. We're going to continue to grow."

Talk to Jim Fram and you’ll come away with the first impression that this guy knows what he’s doing.

The new Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce President and CEO has returned to the most natural job in the Natural State after a two decades absence.

Fram, a Lavaca native who had worked stints with the Harrison and Little Rock chambers of commerce, is about one month on his new Garland County job after tours of duty in Tulsa, Okla., and the midwest.

In his early career, Fram said chamber execs were into “smokestack chasing” and any job was a good job.

“We weren’t too much concerned about what it paid and what it was – just bring jobs and bring capital investment back,” Fram said.

However, the sophistication of industrial and jobs recruiting has evolved to new levels in his quarter century in the business with emphases on demographic data, pattern shifts, and assessing community assets and weaknesses.

“It’s become a very scientific process,” Fram said. “Today in most communities – as we do in Hot Springs and Little Rock and other places – we try to find those businesses that for a whole lot of reasons are compatible with your community.”

Fram’s chamber post covers more than Hot Springs proper. His territory is effectively all or part of Garland, Hot Spring and Clark counties, working in conjunction with the cities of Hot Springs, Malvern and Arkadelphia.

He’s got some assets to market, such as resorts and hotels, three pristine lakes, and more than a dozen championship golf courses.

“Those life quality things have become so important in recruiting business,” Fram said, but it’s not a position on which he can rest. “We have to constantly be upgrading our product and our product is our community and our city.”

Hot Springs’ manufacturing base has been a pleasant surprise to Fram. He sees potential to develop it further based on state efforts in the aviation industry and the fact that his last job – in Tulsa – exposed him to a variety of contacts in the aerospace industry.

“One of the big surprises I got in Hot Springs is – hidden out here among the lakes and golf courses and woods – Hot Springs has a half-dozen aerospace companies that manufacture components and parts for Boeing and Spirit and so on. There’s a very large workforce in the aerospace industry,” Fram said.

More jobs are expected to come to Fort Smith thanks to continued expansion at the Gerber plant on the city's north side. In fact, the company, which is currently expanding its operations to add a cereal line in Fort Smith, asked for and was granted by the Fort Smith Board of Directors on Tuesday night (June 4) an amendment to a resolution passed in 2010 providing the company industrial development revenue bonds.

The original bond package totaled $90,000,000 while the project taking place at Gerber has grown so much, the company requested an additional $60,000,000, bringing the total bonds issued to $150,000,000.

According to City Administrator Ray Gosack, the city issues the bonds, but will not be on the hook should Gerber, a well established company that has been in Fort Smith for decades, default on their bond payments.

"The bonds are issued by the city of Fort Smith, but the city is not responsible for the city of the bonds. Gerber Products will be solely responsible for repayment of the bonds," Gosack said. "In fact, Gerber will buy the bonds and repay itself."

The purpose of the bonds is not necessarily about financing, he said, though it does still involve saving Gerber money in the long run.

"The advantage of the bonds is not the financing mechanism itself, its that the financing mechanism brings a reduction in property taxes on the value of the plant and the equipment that is financed by the industrial revenue bonds. So the principal purpose of using industrial revenue bonds is to provide an incentive of a property tax reduction to encourage Gerber to make the investment in its Fort Smith plant."

The new cereal line, which was originally supposed to employ a few dozen employees once completed, is now projected to employee as many as 90 workers, Gosack said. And the jobs will not be low-paying.

"They're fairly high-paying jobs for the manufacturing sector," he said, without going into much detail. "They're very skilled jobs in the manufacturing plant, so they tend to pay a little more than the typical manufacturing jobs do."

With the financing now in place, Gosack said construction should be completed within months, allowing the company to quickly staff the new operation and start rolling product out of the plant.

A representative from Gerber was not at Tuesday's meeting and a call to the company was not returned after hours.

The type of bonds issued by the city for Gerber are similar to other projects in town, Gosack said.

"The Board of Directors has always been supportive of issuing industrial revenue bonds for various projects in Fort Smith, so Gerber is not the first project and we have done multiple issuances for Gerber. They did a plant modernization a few years ago and we issued industrial revenue bonds for that plant investment, as well, that was done probably six or eight years ago. And we've also done industrial revenue bonds for Graphic Packaging, for Mars Pet Care and for Mitsubishi."

With the exception of Mitsubishi, which mothballed its planned Chaffee Crossing plant following patent issues, Gosack said the city has had pretty good luck with these types of bond packages.

"It's one of the few economic development incentives that city governments have to offer and it is available under the Arkansas Constitution only for manufacturing facilities in the state. It's an incentive we use to encourage manufacturing investment in our community, but there's obviously other types of economic development that isn't manufacturing and so we have some other incentives that we can use for non-manufacturing investments made in the community."

Other city leaders expressed joy at the continued expansion at Gerber.

"This is really good news. It's a great opportunity for our city," Mayor Sandy Sanders told the Board.

Vice Mayor Kevin Settle echoed those sentiments, saying the bond issuance was a great opportunity for "the city to help companies retain jobs we have here and grow. …It says a lot that they want to invest in our city. This is a great, great thing for our city and I'm very happy that Gerber is investing in our city."

In other business, the Board:
• Approved a resolution affirming the action of the Planning Commission, which denied an appeal of an administrative determination regard Section 27-704-4 of the Unified Development Ordinance. The Commission had previously denied to approve sign permits for RAM Outdoor Advertising at 5700 Rogers Avenue and 7310 Rogers Avenue; and
• Approved an ordinance re-zoning 7700 Chad Colley Boulevard from "not zoned" to Industrial Light (I-1). The address is the location of Umarex and the rezoning would allow the company to expand its present facility; and
• Approved an ordinance re-zoning 8100 Rogers avenue from Transitional (T) to Commercial Heavy (C-5).
• Approved an ordinance amending the 2009 Unified Development Ordinance. The changes were administrative and editorial in nature; and
• Approved a resolution accepting special warranty deeds from Sebastian County for property associated with the aquatics and softball field projects at Ben Geren Regional Park; and
• Approved a resolution authorizing execution of an amendment to the donation agreement associated with Harry E. Kelly Park. The agreement will remove restrictions to the number of days in which the City can lease the park, it will allow for-profit promoters to use the facilities of the park and would allow alcohol sales and consumption at the park; and
• Approved a resolution accepting the project as complete and authorizing final payment to Forsgren, Inc. for the Sunnymede Basic Neighborhood and Ramsey Tributary Sewer Improvements at a cost of $117,987.29 to be paid from budeted 2012 sales and use tax bonds.

Arvest Bank announced that Cynthia Kruithof accepted the role of senior human resources manager in Benton County.

For the past 13 years, Kruithof worked at Arvest Bank in Fort Smith as a senior vice president and human resources manager. She has also worked as a trust officer for First National Bank in DeKalb, Ill., from 1992 to 1999. 

Kruithof will report directly to Dennis Smiley, president of Arvest Bank in Benton County.

“Cynthia’s experience with human resources in the banking industry is a major asset to our team,” said Smiley. “She knows how Arvest Bank operates and is an able and dynamic leader within the organization.”

Kruithof is a graduate of Riverton High School in Riverton, Kan.. and earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kan. She has also attended the Cannon Financial Institute.

While working in Fort Smith, Kruithof was the chair for the United Way Allocation Committee and served on the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith College of Applied Science and Technology Advisory Board.

She and her husband, Dean Kruithof, have been married for 34 years and have one adult son.