Arvest Bank said Wednesday (June 12) it originated more than $1 billion in mortgage loans for eleventh consecutive year and achieved this milestone in record time.

The bank cited growing strength in the housing market and a robust environment for refinancing as two of the reasons for the busier year.

“The increase in purchase money transactions we saw during the first quarter, along with the continuous low mortgage rates that have encouraged homeowners to refinance, allowed us to reach this milestone quickly,” said  Steven Plaisance, president and chief operating officer of Arvest Mortgage Company.  

In a 13.8%  increase from last year, the company originated more than $624 million in new mortgage loans in the first quarter of 2013.

In total, mortgage loans at Arvest increased 7.8%t during the first five months of 2013 over the same time period in 2012. Mortgage refinancing accounted for 56.7% of that total increase.

The lender said 2012 was a record-breaking year as well, reaching about 62,000 loans.
The outstanding balance of these loans grew from $6.3 billion in 2011 to $7.1 billion in 2012, or an increase of 12% in the value of loans being serviced.

“We pride ourselves on providing customers with service after the sale because we retain servicing on 99% of the loans we make. We are truly partners with our customers, and they can still call us years into their mortgage with any need related to their loan.” Plaisance said, 

Perhaps no other retailer is as laser focused on leveraging assets as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The mega big box has the scale to garner huge returns with the tiniest of improvements in store operations.

“We learned that by placing just one more item in a shopping bag, saves the company $20 million a year,” Gisel Ruiz, chief operating officer for Walmart U.S. told reporters last week in Rogers.

Leon Nicholas, senior analyst with Kantar Retail, said Wal-Mart is fixated on the idea of leverage, scrutinizing every detail from store operations to product and service procurement to unlock cost savings that will keep driving higher returns to its shareholders.

“When Wal-Mart talks about itself to Wall Street, shareholders and suppliers, leverage is one of three words used and it is key to the retailer delivering on its sustained returns to the Walton family, its biggest shareholder.” Nicholas said during a recent Kantar workshop in Rogers.

Last week during two and a half days of meetings with media, Wal-Mart’s executives continued their “leverage” mantra.

SCAN & GO
Ruiz also said Wal-Mart is pleased with the results it is seeing in its “Scan & Go” self- checkout lanes.

“We are finding our customers are adapting to ‘Scan & Go’ and we will continue to invest in expanding this feature throughout this year,” Ruiz said.

Pushing shoppers to scan their own items and make their payments without the help of a cashier could be a windfall for a company with Wal-Mart’s scale – 140 million customers a week. For every one second in average transaction time at the Walmart U.S. chain, the company said it spends about $12 million in cashier wages. And that doesn’t count what the retailer saves from paperless receipts when a customer pays using their mobile phone.

Wal-Mart said the move to more self-checkout lanes will not eliminate cashiers, but it does free up store workers to help in other areas.

Sam’s Club and Walmart U.S. will continue to add these bullpen style self-check-out centers to hundreds of additional stores this year.

LEADING THE PACK
Carol Spieckerman, CEO of New Market Builders, said Wal-Mart is ahead of the curve in leveraging its scale on mulitple levels.

“Leverage is a key word, a corporate reminder that they are to continue to make the most out of what they have … always re-evaluating each asset for better synergy. Not all that long ago, a large brick and mortar presence was seen as clunky and cumbersome in a world going digital,” Spieckerman said.

She remembers the “Eureka moment” when Wal-Mart began to see its 10,000 or so stores around the globe as an asset when linked together with its growing online business.

“It was a big awakening, and now you see purely online retailers looking for ways to have a physical presence with pop-up stores and warehouses,” Spieckerman said.

She said Wal-Mart investments in technology and WalmartLabs innovation in mobile applications like Scan & Go  are being leveraged with the retailer’s phone subscription business – Straight Talk. In so doing, Spieckerman said Wal-Mart is ushering millions of consumers into the digital world of retail, and doing it at more affordable levels which is key to Walmart’s core customer in many of its markets.

She said the strategic partnership the retailer has made with American Express to provide financial services to the unbanked and the selective pairing with social media mogul Facebook are yet more examples of the trail Wal-Mart is blazing toward a "trans-media" entity. At the same time Spieckerman said plenty of Wal-Mart competitors remain fixated on multi-channel retail strategies as Wal-Mart simultaneously operates in multiple mediums

UNLOCKING VALUE
Chris Sultemeire, executive vice president of Walmart Logistics, said there is a team of 600 engineers who continually look at each process of the supply chain, from the supplier to store shelves with the goals of streamlining logistics and producing cost savings.

“This is an addition to all the efficiencies already being used within our distribution centers and in our trucking fleet,” Sultemeire said.

The company’s recent money-back guarantee for fresh produce is an efficiency play, according to Bill Simon, CEO of Walmart U.S. By combining certain suppliers, putting sourcing agents in the field and culling produce upstream, the retailer said it has found efficiencies that allow it to get product to market sooner, reducing shrinkage on the back-end.

Duncan Mac Naugton, chief merchandising officer for Walmart U.S., said fresher produce is what resonates with consumers, and efficiencies within the company operations has made it possible.

SHARING SUCCESS
Part of the retailer’s leverage strategy is taking the best practices it has honed over 51 years in U.S. retail into its global markets to try and cut operating expenses where possible.

Nicholas said Wal-Mart’s growth in recent years has largely come from its international business, which is not nearly as efficient as the mature business in the U.S. He said growth in the U.S. will be challenging so it is crucial for Wal-Mart to get its international division synchronized in terms of efficiency so that global profits will keep rising.

Conversely, Walmart U.S. has imported a number of practices from ASDA, its grocery retailer in the United Kingdom. One of the more prominent functions shared was a better system for keeping shelves stocked and the home delivery model which is successful in England.

Simon said there isn’t enough demand density for home grocery delivery to work efficiencies on a large scale in U.S. right now, But the company is ready to roll out a program when the time comes.

A slew of tax changes are on tap July 1 and beyond for Arkansas shoppers and businesses.

The state of Arkansas has revised its sales tax rate sheet for the forthcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1, and the Department of Finance and Administration (DF&A) is notifying businesses across the state.

The most noticeable changes taking place on the first of July are changes brought about by Amendment 91, the half-cent sales tax dedicated to road construction and repairs that voters approved last November. That tax increase will lead to:
• Increasing the state sales and use tax to 6.5%
• Increasing the manufacturing utilities reduced rate to 3.25%
• Increasing the electricity manufacturing reduced rate to 4.75%
• Leaving the reduced rate for food at 1.5%

OTHER TAX CHANGES
Other tax changes include the annual sales tax holiday for back-to-school items, such as clothing, school supplies and instructional materials.

This year, that tax break will fall on the weekend of August 3-4, 2013. Three new tax exemptions begin on October 1, 2013. They include:
• Exempting repair parts and labor for pollution control machinery and equipment from the state sales tax;
• Exempting commercial farmers from sales tax on baling twine, net wrap, silage wrap and similar products; and,
• Exempting non-profit blood donation organizations from state and local sales and use taxes.

ADDITIONAL IMPACT
Effective August 16, new laws will go into affect that impact those in the tax and auditing world.

Arkansas consumers can purchase wine from an in-state or out-of-state winery and have it directly shipped to them. However, the purchaser has to have physically visited the winery and made a purchase, and the shipments are limited to one case per calendar quarter. State and local sales taxes must be collected by the winery for the shipments.

In mid-August, DF&A will be allowed to disclose tax records to a joint auditor employed by two or more cities for purposes of auditing the advertising and promotion taxes collected by a city. The records must remain confidential and are not subject to public disclosure.

As part of Arkansas lawmakers’ Medicaid reform efforts, DF&A will be required in August to notify state Medicaid officials if a provider fails to file a state income tax return, state withholding return, a pass through entity tax return, or pay taxes due for the previous calendar year. Those providers will not be in compliance and their Medicaid enrollment will be terminated.

Finally, another new act creates civil and criminal penalties for activities related to software and devices used to modify or falsify electronic records to evade tax payments.

Another seven tax changes will go into effect on January 1 or July 1, 2014.

While there may still be a lot of unknowns associated with the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, one thing is for certain – local businesses are going to be feeling a pinch in their bottom line.

The reason? Any company that employs more than 50 full-time employees will have to provide employees the option to buy into an employer-sponsored health care plan or pay a penalty.

To avoid such penalties, at least one Fort Smith non-profit has found a way around the mandates.

Jim Medley, CEO of the Fort Smith Area Agency on Aging and a former Republican state legislator, said his organization has taken the drastic step of reducing employee hours enough to fall under full-time status.

"We currently have 500 employees, home health aids and drivers. Now all of them are working 28 hours a week maximum. The mandate is if they work 30 hours or more, you have to provide insurance," he said.

DOLLAR STRETCHING
Ninety-one employees are still considered full-time at the organization, meaning they will still have to foot the bill for some sort of insurance policy, he said, adding that the policy provided to his remaining full-time employees would be "bare bones."

"We expect that to cost us somewhere from $120,000 to $130,000 per year," Medley said.

In order to pay for the mandated coverage, he has demanded that the staff take extra steps to increase efficiency and stretch dollars as far as possible.

Some of the measures he has instituted include changing oil in vehicles after 5,000 miles instead of the previous 3,000 miles, putting more miles vehicles before replacing the vehicle in the organization's fleet and requiring employees to increase their workloads to make up for positions that go unfilled to save money.

"Anyone who's not (picking up the slack), we have to let them go or do something with them," he said. "Usually they leave on their own when they realize they'll have to pick up the pace."

‘TIGHTENING LIKE CRAZY’
Cost savings were already in the picture for the organization prior to the insurance mandate, Medley explained, adding that a loss of $30,000 was posted last year.

"Our total budget last year was $17 million, so whatever (percentage) that $130,000 is, it's not a large budget, but we lost $30,000 last year, so we're tightening like crazy. …We are doing what we have to do to stay in business."

Prior to the passage of Obamacare, the Area Agency on Aging had been taking part in a program offered by the state of Arkansas called ARHealthNetworks.

Medley said the program provided solid coverage for he and his employees at an affordable price, allowing the organization to save by not fronting a large expense on health benefits.

"It wasn't called health insurance, it was a health benefit. I paid into it until I turned 65 and now I'm under Medicare," he said. "Either you qualify for a lower premium or the higher. It's not a scale type of thing. But some of my lower-paid employees were paying $25 for a health benefit. I thought it was good coverage. It's still in affect, but our company would not pay anything on it. It was available to all companies that were interested if your company qualified."

But due to the size of the area agency, the rules of Obamacare forced the change, Medley said.

TIME FOR HARP’S
While Medley's organization has began to implement major cuts in hours to stay afloat as a result of Obamacare, CEO Roger Collins of Springdale-based Harp's Food Stores said his company has not made any decisions on changes in staffing.

He said part-time employees at the company can work up to 36 hours a week in many cases, well more than what the new law says classifies as a full-time employee.

But he said any changes, such as what Medley has done at the Area Agency on Aging, will be a long ways off for Harp's.

"Our situation is a little different since our plan year starts June 1," Collins said. "Some companies start in January, but that gives us a little more time. It's good for us."

He said while evaluations are taking place now to determine how offering more insurance will impact Harp's bottom line, he had no idea what kind of an impact the law would have.

"It will add to the expense side of things and make operating more expensive. We may not understand all of the details, but we understand enough to know that."

While the company has prided itself on low prices, Collins admits that cost increases would likely result from the Obamacare mandate.

"Common sense tells you if costs continue to go up, at some point in time, prices are going to be impacted by that."

Health care expenses account for 1.35% of the Harp's overall budget, Collins said.

‘A HUGE EXPENSE’
Back in the Fort Smith area, McDonald's franchisee Michael Hadley said his company, which includes McDonald's franchises owned by other family members, would not reduce employee hours to avoid the Obamacare mandate for his company's nearly 800 employees. Instead, he said future hiring would likely result in more part-time employees.

But he said to absorb the costs of the insurance premiums, he will likely have to raise prices at his restaurants, where he said margins are already thin.

"Everything is going up (at all types of fast food restaurants). We have to raise prices as we can to keep up with commodities and now we have this extra cost. It is going to be a huge expense,” Hadley explained.

Part of Hadley's decision to likely raise prices instead of cutting employee hours comes down to employee retention.

"If we don't take care of our employees, someone else will and the last thing we want to do is have someone else steal them."

And while he is in the position to take care of his employees, with full-timers normally outnumbering part-timers at most of his restaurants, Hadley says smaller franchisors may not be able to do the same.

"It's a very tight margin (that we run on) and there's going to be an adjustment. I feel confident that we're in a good situation. But some of the smaller restaurants, I'm not sure how they're going to do it,” he said.

He says the whole situation is frustrating to him, as he has tried to do right by his employees and yet he feels it is not enough for the federal government.

"I think it's going to work out, but to step back and see what's going on with Obamacare – it's not fixing the problem," he said. "I'm just in a frustrating position because there's nothing I can do."

Medley echoed those sentiments, saying he hopes that "Congress will finally figure out this isn't in the best interest of our country."

Foreclosure filings across the state and region bounced higher in May as lenders continue to release the backlog of properties held up from litigation that was resolved over a year ago.

Homes that have sat vacant for two years are coming back onto the market.

Benton County ranked No. 1 in the state with 164 new filings last month, up nearly 122% from the prior year. More than 19% of the new foreclosure filings recorded in Arkansas last month were in Benton County, according to RealtyTrac.com.

While Washington County also showed an increase in active foreclosures, the 62 new filings in May were up nearly 35% from a year ago. Roughly one in every four filings last month across the state was in Northwest Arkansas.

Real estate experts said given the region’s larger population and higher number of sales, it is not unusual to see more concentration of delinquent loans than seen in other less active markets.

Sebastian County posted 26 new foreclosure filings in May, up 37% from the same month last year. The majority of the filings were foreclosure starts, properties recently in default or scheduled for trustee sale in the next 60 days.

Crawford County bucked the trend with 9 filings last month, which was a 10% decline from the year-ago period.

Arkansas was one of eight states to post double-digit gains in foreclosure activity during May. There were 848 filings in Arkansas in May, up 109% from the prior year.

Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, said Arkansas is one of four states to post triple digit gains in foreclosures over a year ago, behind Maryland, Connecticut and Hawaii.

“Still, the emerging housing recovery has strengthened most local markets enough to quickly shake off a few more blows from these nagging foreclosures,” he said.

Jim Long, agent with Crye-Leike Realty in Bentonville, said the Multiple Listing Service shows 306 bank-owned properties at this time. The bank-owned inventory has risen from 249 properties last month and 222 properties in March. This inventory includes all four counties in this report.

“I am seeing more higher priced homes come back on the market. One down the street from me recently listed for $260,000, which is much higher that what we saw most of last year,” Long said.

Long said the lower priced properties continue to be snapped up quickly by investors and even the higher priced bank-owned properties are selling well given the lower overall inventory levels in most price categories.

Across the nation, RealtyTrac reported 148,054 properties were in the midst of foreclosure, an increase of 2% from the 75-month low in April but still down 28% from May 2012.

The report also shows one in every 885 U.S. housing units with a foreclosure filing during the month.

Improved consumer confidence and spending helped drive up retail sales in May. The National Retail Federation reports May retail sales (excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants) increased 0.6% (seasonally adjusted) from April. On an unadjusted basis sales rose 4.8% year-over-year.

“The American consumer continues to drive the U.S. economy,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “In spite on fluctuating gas prices, severe weather in much of the country and fiscal policy uncertainty, consumers continue to demonstrate an inherent resiliency and flexibility. We should never underestimate the role and strength of the American shopper or the retailers that serve them.”

The number released today (June 13) by the U.S. Department of Commerce showed that total retail and food services sales (which include non-general merchandise categories such as automobiles, gasoline stations, and restaurants) increased 0.6% seasonally adjusted month-to-month and increased 4.3% adjusted year-over-year.

Other findings from the May retail sales report include:
(Unadjusted year-over-year comparisons)

•    Building materials and gardening supply stores saw sales increase 9.3%.
•    Clothing and accessories stores posted sales were up 4.8%.
•    Electronics and appliance stores' sales slid 0.2%.
•    Furniture and home furnishing stores' sales increased 0.1%.
•    General merchandise stores' sales rose 2.3%.
•    Health and personal care stores posted sales increases of  0.5%.
•    Online retailers’ sales jumped 11.5%
•    Sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores’ sales increased 1.8%.

"Stronger employment data and increasing home and equity prices lifted confidence and spending this spring,” NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said. “The economy is improving, albeit slowly, but we still have a long way to go. Stagnant salaries continue to constrain further economic acceleration. While sequester and tax increases dampened sales growth in the first quarter, it appears that the economy absorbed most of the blow.”

One could easily think that as the fifth generation of family leadership at First National Bank of Fort Smith, Sam T. Sicard's professional fate was determined from an early age – that he would automatically take a job in finance and follow in his late father Sam M. Sicard's footsteps.

But as the younger Sicard explained to members and guests of the Family Enterprise Center on Thursday morning (June 13), the decision to join the family business was entirely his with no pressure from his father, who he succeed as president and CEO of First National following his untimely death two years ago.

He said while he was a young 34-years-old when his father passed, he felt better prepared to accept the position bestowed upon him by the bank's Board of Directors than if he had done so at a younger age, as his father had done.

"His father had a stroke when dad was only 29-years-old and Dad had to step in a leadership role. And my grandfather lived for another eight years, actually, passed away when Dad was 37 and become president and CEO officially."

He said his father's experience, while drawn out over several years, helped he and his father to be better able to transition when the unexpected happened.

"I think a lot of the reasons Dad made the transition so smooth is the experiences that he went through and the understanding of what can happen, so he was always trying to prepare for that, to prepare me for that."

In order to prepare for the eventual transition of power, Sicard began helping at the bank when he was only 14 and continued working at the bank during breaks from school and eventually joined the staff after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Arkansas.

"We didn't talk about it. Dad was a very reserved man. But he was very receptive to letting me try to do things. He never really held me back. He gave me some direction and always told me what he thought. But he gave me the opportunity to be involved at a very young age in a leadership position, in a management position within the bank. And I made plenty of mistakes and learned from it. And did some good things, too, and I learned from that, as well."

The time, Sicard said, was vital to his development as not only the next president and CEO, but as a person.

Even though he set himself on the path to a successful career in finance, Sicard admits that the road, especially in his younger years fresh out of college, was not without a few bumps.

"Being a young person, sometimes I needed to be tempered a little bit and sometimes I my values weren't totally aligned where they needed to be. And Dad was patient with me through that process. I think you all see that, whether in yourself when you first got out of school or your children. And he was patient with me and I certainly learned from those experiences."

Through the years of working with his father, Sicard said he learned that successes in life cannot always be about personal achievement, but should be about some sort of collective achievement, as well.

"Your aspirations really have to be more for your people, your staff, your customers, and that really leads to success in my opinion because people buy into what your values are and what your purpose is. And I think that's what I learned from my father. He wasn't real goal-oriented from the standpoint of metrics, but he knew he had a very strong vision and a very clear purpose of what he wanted to accomplish with the bank and serving the community in creating value, not only for our shareholders, but also for our customers and our employees, as well. That's something that took some time for me to learn from him, that transition, and he was patient with me again on that."

Sicard made several other points in his speech to the Family Enterprise Center, a division of the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith's College of Business tasked with providing "families in business with programs and resources that will help make family in the business a strategic strength." Among them:

"It's fine to dare to be great. You know, it's fine to want to achieve great things. But I think it's real important to desire to be grateful for what you have before you desire to be great. When you're not grateful, I just don't think it's sustainable. It's hard to have people buy into what you're trying to achieve if your not grateful first for all the opportunities your given – you're not grateful for your customers, you're not grateful for your shareholders that support you, your employees and all those things."

"The other thing I think is so important is that you not be afraid of conflict. Be afraid of losing your composure. And those are two different things. I don't want you to think that Dad and I everyday we always agreed on everything. We never had a bad word with each other. We never disagreed with each other. We had plenty of heated debates and strong disagreements and arguments. Usually, he'd bend a little bit on his side and I'd bend a little bit on my side and usually the conclusion is where we needed to be. But I think it's a real mistake to avoid conflict. Fear of conflict always makes you worse. It always makes you worse. It limits you, it limits your growth. It limits your ability to expand your perspective. ... The key is again not to lose your composure. If you can keep it on a respectful level, there's no damage done to your personal relationship, I think that's so important."

"I would also add that the transition has been relatively smooth and I have a lot of people to thank for that. We have a senior management team with a lot of experience. Dad was a strong delegator. He once said to me, I can remember when I was younger, I was real worried. He had had triple bypass when I was in college and knew the family history. And I said, 'Gosh Dad. What's going to happen if something happens to you?' And he just sort of nonchalantly said, 'Oh, the bank’s been in business 130 years and they'll be fine without me.' And that was kind of his perspective. The reason for that is he had delegated things and got strong leadership, strong management in place with people he trusted and empowered them to do their job. And that applied to me as well. He gave me that same empowerment, as well. So that made the transition pretty smooth."

Concluding his remarks, Sicard said the smooth transition and the path the bank is on has little to do with what he has done since the passing of his father. As he says, "In my opinion, it has almost nothing to do with it." Instead, he said the success was due to what he had done before his father's passing.

"The relationships I built with our staff, our customers and our board members and our shareholders. I know, it was too late, or would have been too hard, if I didn't have that sense of respect or accountability to them and them to me if I was trying to do that (after my father's death). At a young age, I knew that."

With not as many service points as other regional airports, the severe weather during May was a cause in Fort Smith Regional Airport traffic declining almost 3% in May. Traffic in to the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA) was up over 4% in May.

The Fort Smith Regional Airport, which is served by flights from Memphis and Dallas-Fort Worth, posted May enplanements of 7,976, down 2.75% compared to May 2012.

For the first five months of 2013, enplanements at the airport total 34,165, down 4.56% compared to the same period in 2012. Although down, the trend is improving. Enplanements during the first quarter were down 7.4% compared to the same period in 2012.

Airport Director John Parker said several weather events during May interrupted traffic in and out of Fort Smith.

Enplanements at the Fort Smith Regional Airport totaled 86,653 during 2012, just ahead of the 86,234 in 2011, and marking three consecutive years of enplanement gains.

XNAACTIVITY
Travelers flying out of XNA during May totaled 54,620, up 4.39% compared to the 52,323 during May 2012. The airport has more than 10 service connections.

For the first five months of the year, XNA enplanements total 228,294, up 3.48% compared to the same period in 2012. Traffic gains are trending positive at the airport. Enplanements were up 2.42% during the first quarter of 2013 compared to the 2012 period.

Enplanements at XNA totaled 565,045 during 2012, up just 0.4% compared to 2011. Although slight, the gain prevented XNA from posting two-consecutive years of enplanement declines.

XNA’s first full year of traffic was 1999, and the airport posted eight consecutive years of enplanement gains before seeing a decline in 2008. It reached a peak of 598,886 in 2007.

LITTLE ROCK
Enplanements at the Bill & Hillary Clinton Airport (Little Rock National Airport), totaled 341,413 during the the first four months of 2013, down 3.59% compared to the 2012 quarter. April 2013 enplanements totaled 93,998, up 0.23% compared to April 2012. (May numbers were not available as of June 13.)

Enplanements in 2012 totaled 1.147 million, up 4.07% compared to 2011. The 2012 numbers also ended five consecutive years of enplanement declines at Arkansas’ largest commercial field.

NATIONAL NUMBERS
American Airlines, the busiest carrier at XNA and Fort Smith, reported that its May domestic (U.S.) revenue passenger traffic was down 2.1% compared to May 2012. The Fort Worth-based airline reported total enplanements for the month of 9.37 million, down 1.1% compared to May 2012. For the year, total enplanements for American reached 44.056 million, down 0.2%.

Delta, which is also a major carrier at XNA and Fort Smith, reported that May enplanements for its domestic and international routes totaled 16.767 million, up 1.4%. For the first five months of the year, enplanements totaled 75.389 million, down 0.2%.

Enplanements in Delta’s U.S. regional routes totaled 1.923 million in May, down 5.9% compared to May 2013.

Airlines for America, the trade group for the U.S. airline industry, reported May 16 that it estimates U.S. airlines will carry almost 209 million passengers globally from June through August, up 1% from the same period in 2012. The system-wide summer estimate includes 27 million international passengers, a record number for U.S. airlines.

This marks the largest summer volume for U.S. airlines since 2008, when more than 210 million traveled. The trade group attributed the uptick to “rising household net worth and corporate profits, strong airline operational performance and recent relief in energy prices.”

The Boyd Group, an aviation consulting company, predicts that in 2013 the reduction in the number of seats in the commercial aviation system will result in an overall 2% to 2.5% decline in passenger traffic.

Auto sales across the country have been rising consistently for more than two years and major shifts in consumer preferences have forced suppliers like Superior Industries to retool its two local plants in Northwest Arkansas and construct a fourth plant in Mexico.

The wheel maker said recently its two U.S. plants in Fayetteville and Rogers face capacity challenges and are running far less efficiently than their sister facilities in Mexico.

In recent months local plant officials said their facilities were running at near maximum capacity employing roughly 1,400 workers in Northwest Arkansas.

The firm said it squeezed 800,000 additional wheels out of its plants last year and still lost some marketshare because it couldn’t keep pace with demand.

Superior recently broke ground on its fourth plant in Chihuahua, Mexico as it tries to capture additional marketshare.

The new plant will cost Superior about $125 million and take be completed in mid-2015. This plant will be equipped to produce up to 2.5 million wheels a year, giving the company 20% more capacity than it has right now.

“We are confident these investments will enable us to pursue the growth opportunities afforded by the strengthened automotive sector and to achieve our ongoing goal of enhancing shareholder value,” CEO Steven Borick, said last month.

Kerry Shiba, chief financial officer for Superior Industries said in the company’s recent earnings call, the challenges in the local plants relate to their older age, equipment reliability and they are less adaptable to the “increasingly challenging product mix” in orders it gets from its two largest customers Ford and General Motors.

“We continue to face up to these challenges with urgency and commitment of capital,” he said.

Superior spent nearly $8 million in the first quarter and allocated another $10 million in projects so far this year, the vast majority of that capital is targeted to the firm’s Fayetteville plant - it’s largest U.S. facility.

“However, we do remind everyone that a relatively long gestation period exists before many of the benefits of increased capital spending will begin to be realized. We are reallocating product mix to our factories where possible to better match process capabilities with technical product requirements,” Shiba said.

He said overflow production is being shifted in the short-term to their low-cost operations in Mexico when possible. Shiba reiterated to investors that the smaller plant in Rogers is showing better efficiencies with an improved profit margins since the plant was recently retooled.

Shiba said Ford is Superior’s No. 1  customer and continues to order more wheels.

Ford reported assembly rates rose in excess of 16% in the first quarter, with passenger cars up 21% and light trucks up 14%.

Shiba said GM, Chrysler and the international brands were down some in the first quarter.

Since then Ford said it planned to lift its production in the third quarter by 10% after its F-Series truck sales surged 31% in May.

Chrysler said three of its assembly plants will skip a traditional summer shutdown because of increased demand.

General Motors’ sales were mixed. Sales of Silverado pickups rose 25% and smaller Sonic and Cruze models also posted double-digit gains, while Malibu and Impala saw deep drops in the units sold.

Overall, sales last month were running at an annualized pace of about 15.3 million, according to Edmunds.com. The auto researcher expects sales this year to hit 15.5 million, a tally not seen in six years.

Superior Industry shares (NYSE:SUP) were trading about 2% higher in today’s afternoon session at $18.13, up 36 cents. For the past 52 weeks the share price has ranged from $15.75 to $22.09.

Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel (D) and U.S. Attorney Chris Thyer are filing a joint lawsuit against ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. and Mobil Pipeline Co. for violations of state and federal environmental laws related to the May 29 Pegasus pipeline rupture in Mayflower.

The complaint outlines six causes of action against the defendants related to the oil spill, which dumped heavy crude oil into waterways and a neighborhood near Lake Conway.

“This spill disrupted lives and damaged our environment,” McDaniel said. “It sullied our previously pristine water and our clean air. As the party responsible for this incident, Exxon is also responsible for the penalties imposed by the state for the damage to our environment and the company should foot the bill for the state’s clean-up costs.”

The lawsuit outlines potential civil penalties and damages Exxon could face related to violations of the Clean Water Act, the Arkansas Hazardous Waste Management Act, and the Arkansas Water and Air Pollution Control Act.

Those penalties could involve federal civil penalties of $1,100-$4,300 per barrel discharged depending on if Exxon is found guilty of negligence or willful misconduct.

It could also include state penalties of $25,000 per day for violations of hazardous waste laws; $10,000 per day for violations of water pollution laws; and $10,000 per day for violations of air pollution statutes.

The state and feds are also seeking an undisclosed amount of money for removal costs and damages to the environment and property. A total dollar amount on what the state and federal government could seek would be determined once more facts related to the case are decided, McDaniel said.

Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality director Teresa Marks said Exxon has been storing hazardous waste illegally at an XTO storage facility near Mayflower. She said the company did not have the proper permitting for the hazardous waste storage and was not compliant with her agency’s requests to meet code. Marks also indicated that there are unanswered questions about how Exxon planned to transport and dispose of the waste.

McDaniel said Exxon had been open to communication with the state on issues raised, but its response “has not been satisfactory.” He hoped the discovery process would shed more light on how much oil was discharged – which is still a mystery – and what the cause of the rupture was.

Thyer and McDaniel said they thought their offices as well as the state and government resources through ADEQ, EPA and other federal agencies would be sufficient to litigate. McDaniel did not rule out hiring outside counsel to assist, but said none was hired at this time.

A new $1.7 million call center expansion in Fort Smith could add 90 jobs within the next three years.

Answer Fort Smith has completed the renovation of a 35,000-square-foot facility and will relocate their existing call center from North A and Rogers Avenue to 5805 U.S. 271 S.

The former CV’s Grocery Store will be the new location for their fulfillment center in order to accommodate the company’s plans to triple in size. The company now employs 60 people, and during the next three years, they plan to hire 150 more workers, according to a statement from the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Answer Fort Smith has provided professional telephone answering services for more than 30 years. Services include inbound and outbound call service, virtual receptionist, medical and industrial call services, data collection, reporting, paging & repair, and RSVP Hotlines. The new facility will boast state-of-the-art communication equipment to serve customers nationwide.

“Answer Fort Smith is thrilled to relocate to this new facility and have the opportunity to put more citizens from our area back to work, Hugh “Hoot” Jones of Answer Fort Smith, said in the statement. “For more than 30 years we’ve provided professional services and with this expansion, Answer Fort Smith will be poised for a very successful future. We are grateful for the assistance and cooperation from the Fort Smith Chamber, the City of Fort Smith, and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission in helping make this project a reality.”

The Answer Fort Smith expansion is the sixth announced economic development project in the Fort Smith metro area since March 21.

Officials with Atlanta-based Phoenix Metals announced March 21 plans to invest $12 million in a new 65,000-square-foot metal processing operation at Chaffee Crossing that could employ up to 40 with an average wage of $15 per hour.

On April 4, officials with Health Management Associates (HMA) announced plans to operate a regional service center in Fort Smith that will employ more than 500 with average annual salaries potentially exceeding $40,000. Those jobs are expected to be in place within 12 months.

There are no new jobs planned, but officials with SGL Carbon announced April 17 a $26 million upgrade to their facility in Ozark. The German-based company employs more than 90 people in the Ozark plant, which produces high-power graphic electrodes that create heat in electric arc furnaces used in steel mills.

Ground was broken June 11 that will add between 20 and 40 jobs to the Van Buren economy. Officials with Tankersley Food Service, along with Van Buren Mayor Bob Freeman and Crawford County Judge John Hall, took part in the groundbreaking on the company's new $4 million addition to their Van Buren facility.

A $150 million expansion of Gerber Foods’ Fort Smith plant could add up to 90 jobs. The jobs will support a new cereal line. The Fort Smith Board of Directors approved on June 4 a bond issuance for the expansion.

Tim Allen, president of the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce, said it’s pleasing to see a small business expansion create jobs.

“Answer Fort Smith has been a great corporate citizen for many years. It’s exciting to see a home grown company expand in our community. We hear it all the time; small businesses make up the majority of new jobs in this country and it’s certainly true in this case. Fort Smith should be proud of the remarkable success story in Answer Fort Smith’s expansion,” Allen noted in the chamber statement.

Visa USA Inc. sued Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in New York federal court on Wednesday (June 13) in a bid to block the retail giant from pursuing more damages after opting out of a $7.25 billion antitrust settlement in the interchange fee multi-district litigation.

"We are disappointed that VISA chose to file this unwarranted and unsupportable lawsuit in retaliation for our decision to opt out and object to an unfair settlement agreement," said Randy Hargrove, Wal-Mart spokesman.

"The proposed settlement would allow credit card companies and big banks to perpetuate a broken system that costs consumers billions of dollars each year, and we, like more than 7,000 other conscientious merchants who have opted out, cannot go along with it," he said.

The credit card giant accused Wal-Mart of trying to endlessly litigate many of the same issues over its interchange fees in multiple cases, pointing out that it already paid Wal-Mart a significant settlement to resolve an earlier round of litigation over its practices.

And even though Visa, MasterCard Inc. and several major banks have already agreed to pay roughly $7.25 billion in a settlement to resolve an MDL accusing the companies of conspiring to keep rates high, Wal-Mart indicated that it planned to pursue another suit over the same alleged conduct, according to the new complaint. After more than a decade of litigation, Visa said enough was enough, urging the court to rule the company hadn't violated the antitrust laws.

Dozens of retailers have spoken out against the settlement offered by Visa and the National Retail Federation also disapproves.

“This settlement does nothing to disclose the hidden fees or otherwise create transparency to encourage competition that would lead to lower fees,” said Mallory Duncan, NRF General Counsel.
 

It took just four hours for Jim Long, a real estate agent with Crye-Leike In Bentonville to sell one of his listings in May.

“I also had another listing go under contract in two days and through just five months of 2013 I have already surpassed my sales during all of last year,” Long said.

Water cooler conversations like these have been common in local real estate firms as the housing markets in Benton and Washington counties posted solid double-digit gains again in May.

Local agents sold 663 homes last month and sales volume increased 17% to $119.81 million, according to MountData.com

Benton County agents sold 414 homes in May compared to 383 in the year ago period. Total sales value rose 16.36% to $78.712 million as the median home price continues to improve.

Washington County reported 249 home sales in May. These sales totaled $41.106 million, up 18.68% from the same month in 2012.

Crye-Leike Realty reported sales in its Northwest Arkansas division were up 18% in May, totaling $35 million. The local franchise of Coldwell Banker said their agents sold 11% more homes in May and total sales volume rose 19% from the same month last year.

Paul Bynum, market analyst with MountData.com, said the home inventory level rose by 150 units in May from the prior month. There were 3,509 homes listed for sale in the two counties at the end May. Inventories are down 6% from the same month last year and 51% lower than the all-time high in August 2007.

Bynum said lower inventory levels are helping to keep prices higher. The median sales price for the region through May was $147,000, up 8.8% from last year.

Agents said foreclosure inventory is coming back onto the market after nearly a two-year lull as lenders are taking the opportunity to list foreclosed homes at a time when prices are moving higher.

“We are seeing more foreclosures flowing into the market, which will tend to damper prices, but the lower inventories are offsetting that somewhat,” George Faucette, CEO of Coldwell Banker Harris McHaney & Faucette Real Estate, explained.

He said May 2012 was a strong comparison month and he is pleased with the way the local market is performing this entire year. Faucette said his firm’s sales are up 28% year-to-date through May, when compared to last year

Crye-Leike said sales in Northwest Arkansas ($147 million) are up 17% through May, over the year ago period. Coldwell Banker and Crye-Leike together comprise a lion’s share of the local market as two of the region’s three largest firms.

Through May, Bynum said agents in Northwest Arkansas sold 2,709 homes valued at $481.054 million. Market activity is up 19% and 24%, respectively. Bynum said while the majority of the homes sold this year were priced below $150,000, there have been six homes sold above $1 million.

He said there is a 6-month supply of homes priced between $100,000 and $150,000, which is a balanced market. Homes priced under $100,000 are in a deep seller’s market with an inventory supply of four months. There is an 8-month supply of homes priced between $200,000 and $400,000.

The price per-square-foot averaged $81.50 in Benton County and $84.40 in Washington County among all of the local sales this year.

Bynum said homes selling this year spent an average of 101 days on the market from listing to contract, roughly 2.5 weeks shorter than last year.

Northwest Arkansas Home Sales (info from MountData.com)
(Benton and Washington Counties)
Total Sales Volume (January-May)
2013: $481.054 million
2012: $387.291 million

Unit Sales (January-May)
2013: 2,705
2012: 2,351

Median Price (January-May)
2013: $147,000
2012: $135,000

Mercy officials provided details Monday (June 17) on the $42 million Orthopedic Hospital in Fort Smith that should be completed by October 2014 and could add to up to 100 jobs to the economy.

The new hospital is located at the site – 79th Street and Phoenix Avenue – where a group of doctors in 2008 tried to build an orthopedic hospital. Construction in May 2009. Mercy purchased the site close to two years later in February 2011. Initial planning and site design work began in August 2011 with the original plan to use the existing facility. After digging deeper into the project, Mercy officials decided to remove the steel frame that had been erected and start from scratch.

An adjacent ambulatory surgery center, doctors’ offices and rehab operation now employs about 170. When the new orthopedic hospital opens in late 2014, about 100 more employees will be needed for the operation, according to Janeen Kueck, executive director of the Mercy Orthopedic Hospital.

The 69,000-square-foot hospital will be two stories and will connect to the existing ambulatory surgery center.
 
“This hospital is the final piece of the puzzle on this campus,” Dr. Keith Bolyard, medical director of Mercy’s musculoskeletal campus, said in a statement. “We’re already able to take care of children, people who’ve had accidents or injuries and recreational athletes at this location. Now we’ll add baby boomers in need of surgery for knee, hip and shoulder replacements to the list.”

The hospital’s first floor will include:
• 10,138-square-foot outpatient rehabilitation clinic with a therapy pool able to accommodate more than 100 patients per day;
• Pre-operative screening area where patients will come prior to surgery for a physical, EKG, x-ray and lab screening;
• Surgery waiting and registration; and,
• Café serving breakfast, lunch and a light dinner with seating for 50 and patio dining available.

The second floor will include 18 patient rooms at opening with six more available when they are needed, a chapel and a waiting area for families. The second floor also includes shell space for 12 beds that will bring the hospital to 36 beds when the capacity is needed.

“The entire building design centers around making recovery for patients quick and comfortable,” Kueck said in the statement. “The inpatient floor has a loop like hallway so patients can begin walking shortly after surgery. Flooring changes will help them gauge how many feet they’ve walked as they gain strength. There are also special chairs in the patient rooms to aid in bedside physical therapy. The goal is to get patients back on their feet as quickly as possible.”

Mercy has provided this video camera link to allow anyone to check on construction progress at the project.

The $42 million Mercy Orthopedic Hospital is a large part of Mercy’s $192 million community master plan, which, according to a company statement, is “designed to recruit and retain doctors, build infrastructure and upgrade technology over the next seven years.” The plan was announced in August 2011.

Mercy formally opened its $10 million Heart and Vascular Center on Feb. 20. The 16,000-square-foot center was built within renovated space within Mercy’s primary hospital in Fort Smith.

With the exception of Fort Smith, five of the six metro areas covered in the Little Rock Zone of the Federal Reserve’s St. Louis District showed improvement or flatline stability in the first quarter of 2013.

The Burgundy Book, which analyze smaller markets in the region, was released on Thursday by the Federal Reserve Bank. The Little Rock Zone covers six MSAs, including Little Rock/North Little Rock/Conway, Pine Bluff, Hot Springs, Texarkana, Fort Smith and Fayetteville/Springdale/Rogers. Neither the Jonesboro nor Memphis/West Memphis MSAs are included in the study.

“The Arkansas economy performed about as well as the U.S. economy in the first quarter,” the report noted. “Although Arkansas’ employment growth in the first quarter of 2013 trailed the nation’s growth, unemployment rates in the largest cities were generally well below the nation’s rate.”

The book merges data and anecdotal news collected from January through March. The information covers employment, wages, manufacturing, real estate, banking and consumer debt.

EMPLOYMENT & WAGES
“After job losses in early 2012, non-farm employment growth in the zone picked up in the final months of the year,” the report said.

Service sector gains were primarily responsible for the improving employment picture except in Fort Smith where service growth “remains negative.”

The feds warned that in discussions with locals there could be “headwinds” in the making.

“There are some headwinds stemming from the uncertainty around fiscal policy: two of seven business contacts expect to increase employment in the upcoming year; the remainder expect their employment to remain unchanged,” the report said.

The average unemployment rate in the zone is 6.9%, which is lower than the national rate of 7.8%. The Fort Smith unemployment rate increased to 8.3% during the period.

The Burgundy Book also disclosed the latest data on average weekly earnings, which showed a mixed bag. Workers in Little Rock experienced the largest gains up about 14% from one year ago, while growth in the remaining MSAs were below the national average of 2% growth. Average weekly earnings actually declined in Fayetteville and Fort Smith, according to the report.

Per capita income in Arkansas continued to increase faster than the U.S. average in the third quarter of 2012, the most recent statistics provided. Income growth was primarily due to the growth in labor earnings.

MANUFACTURING
“Manufacturing employment in Arkansas finally exhibited some positive – though almost negligible – growth” during the quarter, the report said.

Arkansas manufacturing has struggled despite gains made in other southern and midwestern states in the U.S.

The survey suggested that durable goods manufacturing employment contributed 1.5% to the growth rate, while nondurable goods employment tempered those gains.

“Over a longer time horizon, relatively large employment declines occurred in 2009. Besides a slight uptick in late 2010, this downward trend has remained constant since 2006, even with the economy’s recovery and manufacturing’s resurgence in other parts of the country,” the report said.

Manufacturing employment was up 6% compared to one year ago.

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
The residential real estate market improved thanks to a surge in home sales and higher average prices. New and existing home sales in 2012 increased by about 4.8% over last year.

“Moreover, the year-over-year growth of Little Rock home prices in the fourth quarter was the strongest it has been all year,” the report noted. In the first quarter of 2013, home sales and average prices have been trending higher.

The Burgundy Book also noted:
• On the residential construction side, single-family building permits in 2012 increased throughout in all MSAs except Pine Bluff.
• Multi-family real estate activity continued to show improvement.
• Asking rent in Little Rock enjoyed 3% growth in the fourth quarter of 2012 compared with a year ago. Asking rent has increased consistently over the past five quarters.
• The office real estate market in Little Rock experienced a strong ending in 2012 as the vacancy rate dropped by 2% on a year-over-year basis, to 12.5%.

“This is far below the national rate of 17 percent. The lower vacancy rate is probably due to increasing demand, as both office asking rent and effective rent have increased modestly,” the report said.

BANKING & CONSUMER DEBT

That real estate and construction activity seen in the region led to improvements in the banking sector.

“Arkansas banks generally outperformed their Eighth District and U.S. peers,” the report said. “Still, nonperforming loans of Arkansas banks are relatively high compared with other Eighth District banks and the nation, and some contacts expressed concern about the recent easing in lending standards.”

Consumers in the Little Rock Zone continued to decrease their credit card debt levels, which were down 2.8% from a year ago and down 25% since peak levels in 2008.

The Fed said industry contacts from the zone believe this trend has continued into early 2013, but they expect national credit card debt might rise in the early portion of the year.
Also of note, increased auto sales have led to consumers taking on more auto debt.

“This continued the upward trend that began in the first quarter of 2010. The average amount of auto debt per capita was $3,676,” the report said.

More than three-quarters of area bankers surveyed expect loan demand to increase or stay the same during the next three months.

Banking observations included:
• Profitability improved in the Little Rock Zone as Arkansas banks continued to outperform their District peers.
• Return on average assets increased 5 basis points in the fourth quarter to 1.18% and was up 10 basis points from a year ago.
• Earnings were boosted by a decline in loan loss provisions.
• Average net interest margin at Arkansas banks was unchanged in the fourth quarter and was down 12 basis points from a year ago.
• Nonperforming loans fell again in the Little Rock Zone, marking the sixth straight quarterly decline.

“This trend is expected to continue as four of five bankers surveyed expect loan delinquencies to decline during the next three months,” the survey noted.

Link here for a video interview by Roby Brock with Robert Hopkins of the Federal Reserve Bank-Little Rock branch.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said on Saturday that its board appointed James Cash Jr. as lead independent director. Cash is an emeritus professor at Harvard University and a member of Wal-Mart’s audit compliance committee.

He joined Wal-Mart's board in 2006 and replaces 51-year-old James Breyer, who served on the board for more than a decade.

Breyer rotated off the retailer’s board this year under the company's rules of corporate governance.

Rob Walton, son of the company’s founder, remains chairman of the board at age 68. The Walton Family owns slightly more than 50% of the retailer’s outstanding shares.

Earlier this month, Wal-Mart shareholders approved the election of all 14 director nominees at the company's annual meeting, despite the ongoing fallout from the alleged bribery scandal in Mexico.

The audit committee of which Cash is a member has been criticized amid allegations that Wal-Mart executives squelched an internal probe into bribery activities within its Mexican business unit.

The value of building permits in Fort Smith, Greenwood and Van Buren were a combined $34.602 million in May. The figure is up significantly from last month, with $18.35 million in permits issued, and May 2012, with $13.577 million. The total value is up 154.86% over last year.

Year-to-date, values are at $80.643 million for the largest cities in Crawford and Sebastian Counties, up 54.29% over the same period last year.

FORT SMITH
The city of Fort Smith issued 206 permits during the month of May, with a total value of $30.506 million, up 164.44% over the same month last year.

The explosive growth in construction was largely driven by two projects - a new pump station on Jenny Lind and renovations of the Phoenix Expo Center.

The new pump station, advertised for bidding as the Zero Street Pump Station, is being constructed at 5601 Jenny Lind Road by Archer Western Construction at a cost of $13.6 million and will include a new pump station, screenings building, electrical chemical building, two 5-million gallon pre-stressed concrete equalization tanks, site piping and a standby generator.

The renovation of the Phoenix Expo Center has a value of $1.986 million. The former expo center is being converted to office space for HMA, the parent company of Sparks Health System, which announced earlier this year the re-location of its service center, which will bring 500 jobs to the area.

GREENWOOD
The city of Greenwood did not issue any construction permits for May, according to Don Oliver with the city's planning department.

Last year the city issued five building permits totaling $733,540.

VAN BUREN
The city of Van Buren saw improvement of 213.42% over the same period last year, with 38 projects worth $4.096 million permitted last month. The same month last year only saw $1.307 million in construction.

A large project in the city's industrial park totaling $3.164 million helped the city top last year's numbers. The construction, at 3203 Industrial Park Road, is part of an expansion project at Tankersley Food Service.

2012 RECAP
Combined values in the three cities during 2012 were $157.32 million, compared to $201.079 million during 2011. The 2012 value is above the $149 million in 2010, but below the $164 million during 2009.

Fort Smith closed 2012 with the largest share of valuations, logging $136.428 million (a one-year decline from $179.288 million of about 23.9%), while Van Buren was the next largest with $12.282 million (a one-year decrease from $12.39 million of approximately 0.87%). Greenwood posted an additional $8.609 million, which was down slightly from last year’s $9.461 million (down about 9%).

The 2012 figures were compared against a $28.5 million permit for the construction of a Mitsubishi wind-turbine assembly plant at Chaffee Crossing. The plant has been mothballed by the company. Even without that permit, the Fort Smith metro area lagged when compared to 2011 showing a decrease of around 8.8%.

Tyson Foods said its disaster relief teams served more than 80,000 meals to survivors and rescue workers in the aftermath of last month’s devastating tornado in Moore, Okla.

The meat giant’s 53-foot Meals that Matter mobile feeding unit left the company’s Springdale headquarters the day after the tornado hit. Aboard the semi-trailer were thousands of pounds of food, ice  and other essential supplies.

More than 70 Tyson employees from 18 different company locations were involved in the relief effort in Moore, working an estimated 3,000 man hours serving three meals a day to those in need.

The company said it worked with the National Guard and other organizations to distribute food into the affected areas and was one of the primary ice suppliers.

At the end of a two week on-the-ground effort, the company served approximately 73,000 pounds of food and distributed 90,000 pounds of ice, a combined value of more than $247,000.

Jason Betts, a nurse manager at Tyson’s Noel, Mo., facility was one of the first responders on site in Moore.

“As a nurse and first responder, I’ve always cared for other people and it’s an awesome feeling to work for a company that does so much to feed those affected in times of disaster,” Betts said.

In addition to the food, Tyson also agreed to match employee donations up to $100,000, which is being to given to the American Red Cross as financial support for their ongoing relief efforts in the Moore community

Tyson Foods has one processing facility in Oklahoma – a chicken plant in Broken Bow that employs about 2,200.

The Walton Family Foundation announced Tuesday (June 18) grants totaling  $1.3 million to two organizations working to improve the quality of the state’s K-12 schools. 

The Arkansas Advanced Initiative for Math and Science (AAIMS) and Arkansas Tech University’s Center for Executive Leadership (ACEL) Leader-to-Leader (L2L) program were awarded the funds.

“The economic well-being of our state depends upon the ability to create an environment where every child in Arkansas has access to a high-quality, publicly funded education,” said Kathy Smith, senior program officer for the foundation’s Arkansas Education Reform initiative.

“We believe in preparing students for success with a quality education. When you do, academic expectations grow, graduation rates rise and the standard of living improves. Arkansas has made significant gains in education and we will continue to invest in programs that help raise the academic bar.”

Arkansas Advanced Initiative for Math and Science (AAIMS), will receive $875,000 to continue growing the number of Advanced Placement (AP) classes available to low income and minority populations.

This two-year grant will help the group increase enrollment in AP Math, Science, and English courses with the ultimate goal of increasing the number of qualifying scores on these exams. Previous foundation support for AAIMS is more than $2.9 million.

“This grant will help us reach more of Arkansas’ most vulnerable students and give them the tools they need to excel at AP courses and in turn prepare them for college. We are proud of the success we’ve had the past four years and look forward to seeing the results of our efforts in the coming years,” said Tommie Sue Anthony, executive director of AAIMS.

The second organization, Arkansas Tech University Center for Executive Leadership (ACEL) Leader-to-Leader (L2L) program, will receive more than $450,000 to continue work in developing strong district and school leaders for Arkansas public schools.

The program promotes creative thinking and problem solving by Arkansas’ school administrators.  With this investment, the foundation has now supported the program with more than $2.5 million in grants since 2007.

The L2L program conducts a series of “academies” to assist the school and district leaders in obtaining the skills necessary to meet the challenges in the demanding and politically charged world of public education.

Consumers living in Northwest Arkansas (420,000-plus) have 38 banks to choose from which makes Benton and Washington counties one of the most competitive markets for bankers in the country. In the Fort Smith market there are 23 banks to chose from and the deposit marketshare is carved up between local community banks and larger regional institutions.

Both markets also have roughly a handful of credit unions to nip away at the local deposit marketshare, so The City Wire was asked to take part in a national banking preference poll conducted by GoBankingRates.com.

It’s been nearly two years since since the Occupy Wall Street Movement called on consumers to walk away from large, impersonal banks in protest of higher fees, foreclosure practices and seemingly high bonuses for top corporate bankers, while shareholders faced losses.

While community banks are seen as the backbone of this region, there are a number of larger regionals and huge banking entities also carving up the local deposit marketshare.

"Now that the hype over Bank Transfer Day has died down, the backlash against big banks may have subdued as well," said GoBankingRates.com managing editor Casey Bond. "There are clear benefits to banking with both national and community institutions, and our American Banking Preference Poll will tell us which option U.S. citizens are presently leaning toward."

The poll is a simple, one-question survey that asks Americans: “Do you prefer banking with a national bank, local bank, or credit union?"

With one click, individuals can specify their preference for banking with a ‘national bank’ or ‘local community bank' or 'credit union.’ Participants are encouraged to leave comments explaining their preference.

"Learning what today's depositors and borrowers value most will allow us to customize the content we provide and offer more valuable information to readers. We expect this poll to open the door to gaining greater insight and starting a new conversation about where the trend is headed in national versus local banking," Bond said.

Top 10 in Deposit Marketshare  (2012)

Northwest Arkansas Metro Area
51.36%: Arvest Bank $4.55 billion
6.98%: First Security $618 million
3.47%: Bank of Fayetteville $308 million
3.30%: Signature Bank $293 million
3.06%: Bank of America $271 million
2.71%: Bank of Oklahoma $240 million
2.44%: LIberty Bank $216 million
2.27%: Simmons Bank $202 million
2.17%: Legacy National $193 million
2.14%: Chambers Bank $190 million

Fort Smith Metro Area
17.84%: First National Bank $772 million
12.49%: Arvest Bank $540 million
11.41%: Bancorp South $493 million
7.43%: Citizens Bank & Trust $323 million
5.61%: Regions Bank $243 million
5.24% Bank of the Ozarks $227 million
4.33%: Simmons Bank $187 million
4.33%: Central National Poteau $187 million
4.08%: First National Sallisaw $176 million
3.86%: Benefit Bank $167 million

Source: www.fdic.gov.