Title 14, Local Government

(a) The board of commissioners shall be resident property holders in the district and shall be citizens of integrity and good business ability. (b) (1) The commissioners shall be appointed to serve for terms of one (1), two (2), three (3), four (4), and five (5) years respectivel…

(a) (1) Within thirty (30) days after their appointment, the commissioners shall take and file with the county clerk their oaths of office in which they shall swear to support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Arkansas, to discharge faithf…

No member of the board of improvement shall be liable for any damages unless it shall be made to appear that he had acted with a corrupt and malicious intent.

(a) Immediately after their qualification, the commissioners shall form plans for the improvements they intend to make and the equipment they intend to purchase. To that end, they may employ an architect, if a fire station is to be built, and shall file a copy of the plans or spe…

(a) The assessment shall be filed with the county clerk of the county, and the secretary of the board shall give notice of its filing by publication one (1) time a week for two (2) weeks in a newspaper published and having a bona fide circulation in the county. This notice may be…

(a) The commissioners shall one (1) time a year order the assessors to reassess the annual benefits of the district, provided there have been improvements made or improvements destroyed or removed from one (1) or more tracts of land in the district, making it necessary to have th…

(a) (1) The board of commissioners of the district shall, at the same time that the annual benefit assessment is equalized or at any time thereafter, enter upon its records an order. This order shall have all the force of a judgment, providing that there shall be assessed upon th…

(a) The original assessment record, or any reassessment record, shall be filed with the county clerk, whose duty it shall be to extend the annual benefit assessment annually upon the tax books of the county until the district is dissolved. (b) It shall then be the duty of the col…

(a) (1) All annual benefits extended and levied under the terms of this subchapter shall be payable between the third Monday in February and the third Monday in April of each year.(2) If any annual benefit assessments levied by the board in pursuance to this subchapter are not pa…

(a) The depository shall pay out no money save upon the order of the board and upon a voucher check signed by at least two (2) of the commissioners. Every voucher check shall state upon its face to whom payable, the amount, and the purpose for which it is issued. All voucher chec…

(a) The board of commissioners may make the necessary repairs upon the streets or roads within the district. (b) (1) It is realized that the fire fighting apparatus must rush with great speed to the place of the fire and that holes or ruts in the streets or roads which it travers…

(a) (1) All contractors shall be required to give bond for the faithful performance of contracts as may be awarded them, with good and sufficient sureties in an amount to be fixed by the board of commissioners.(2) The board shall not remit or excuse the:(A) Penalty or forfeiture …

(a) (1) In order to acquire and maintain equipment and facilities and do the work of the fire protection district, the board of commissioners may issue the negotiable notes of the fire protection district signed by the members of the board and bearing a rate of interest not excee…

(a) The district shall not cease to exist upon the completion of the improvement, but it shall continue to exist for the purpose of operating the fire fighting equipment and keeping it in repair until such time as the owners of a majority in value of the real property within the …

(a) All cases involving the validity of such districts or the annual benefit assessments and all suits to foreclose the lien of annual benefit assessments shall be deemed matters of public interest and shall be advanced and disposed of at the earliest possible moment. (b) All app…

(a) The commissioners may at any time alter the plans and specifications, which shall be filed with the county court. Notice of the filing shall be given by publication for two (2) weeks in some newspaper issued and having a bona fide circulation in the county. (b) If by reason o…

The collector of taxes in any county, in collecting annual benefit assessments in any district created under this subchapter or in collecting taxes in any improvement district created under Acts 1921, No. 660 [repealed] or Acts 1923, No. 126 [superseded], shall deduct one percent…

Fire protection improvement districts or fire protection districts organized under this subchapter are authorized to contract with a city, town, county, the state, the federal government, or an existing fire protection improvement district or fire protection district for the prov…

(a) The real property owners in any incorporated town in this state having a population of not less than four hundred twenty-five (425) persons nor more than four hundred thirty-five (435) persons according to the 1970 Federal Decennial Census are authorized to form a fire protec…

(a) (1) Fire protection districts organized under this subchapter may consolidate if:(A) The districts are geographically contiguous;(B) Located in the same county; and(C) No parcel of land in the new district will be more than three (3) miles from an existing fire station.(2) (A…

(a) (1) The Department of Agriculture may make recommendations to the county court to adjust the boundaries of:(A) Districts having overlapping boundaries;(B) Districts abutting an area for which there is no fire protection service; or(C) Contiguous districts.(2) (A) Except as pr…

(a) (1) As used in this section, “firefighter” means a full-time, paid member of a fire protection district who is employed by the board of commissioners of a fire protection district and whose primary duty is fighting fires.(2) “Firefighter” does not include the chief or head of…

(a) (1) Fire protection districts established under this subchapter shall cover only territory within the county, or within the defined district, outside the corporate limits of cities and towns.(2) (A) However, if any city or town within the district does not have an organized o…

The provisions of this subchapter are supplemental to any other laws and procedures for the establishment, funding, and operation of fire protection districts and shall not be construed to modify, amend, supersede, or otherwise affect other laws and procedures.

(1) Fire protection districts may be established to serve all or any defined portion of any county in any of the following ways:(1) By ten percent (10%) of the qualified electors in the proposed district's petitioning the quorum court to hold a public hearing and to form a distri…

(a) (1) (A) If petitions containing a description of the territory for a proposed fire protection district, along with an accurate map of the proposed fire protection district boundaries, and containing the signatures of ten percent (10%) or more total of the qualified electors w…

(a) When petitions are filed with the county court of any county wherein the fire protection district to be established is located in a single county or if the fire protection district is to be located in more than one (1) county and the petitions are filed with the county courts…

(a) Petitions filed under § 14-284-203 shall specifically define the area proposed to be included in a fire protection district and shall specify the maximum assessed benefits that may be levied against property within the district for the support of the district. (b) The maximum…

(a) The quorum court of each county in which a fire protection district is located shall establish the service area of the fire protection district. (b) The quorum court shall furnish the fire protection district with a map indicating the service area of the fire protection distr…

(a) (1) If at an election a majority of the qualified electors voting on the question vote “FOR” the establishment of the proposed fire protection district and the levy of assessed benefits to support the district or if an ordinance of the quorum court establishing a district is …

(a) The board shall annually choose from among its members a chairman and a secretary-treasurer. The chairman and secretary-treasurer shall furnish bonds, conditioned upon faithful performance of their duties, in the amount of five thousand dollars ($5,000) each. The cost of secu…

(a) The county in which any district is located shall cooperate with and assist the board by providing suitable office space and meeting facilities for the board and its staff if facilities and space are available. (b) The board shall meet at least quarterly and at such other tim…

(1) The board of commissioners of any district created pursuant to this subchapter shall have the power and authority to:(1) Execute contracts and other instruments for and in behalf of the district;(2) Cooperate with any other fire protection district, municipal fire department,…

(a) As soon as is practical after its establishment, the board shall prepare plans for providing fire protection services and for acquiring the property and equipment necessary to carry out the purposes of the district. (b) They shall thereupon appoint three (3) assessors to asse…

(a) The assessment or reassessment shall be filed with the county clerk of the county, and the secretary of the board shall thereupon give notice of its filing by publication once a week for two (2) weeks in a newspaper having a bona fide circulation in the county. This notice ma…

(a) The board of commissioners shall once a year order the assessors to reassess the annual benefits of protected property in the fire protection district if there have been improvements made or improvements destroyed or removed from one (1) or more tracts of land in the fire pro…

(a) The original benefit assessment or flat fee assessment or any reassessment shall be filed with the county clerk of each county within which the district is located, and it shall be the duty of the county clerk to extend the annual benefit assessment or flat fee assessment ann…

(a) (1) (A) All annual assessments extended and levied under this subchapter are payable at the time ad valorem real property taxes are payable.(B) The county shall list the fire protection district assessments as an involuntary collection beginning with the next ad valorem real …

(a) Funds of the district shall be expended only upon the order of the board and upon a voucher check signed by the chairman and secretary-treasurer of the board. Every voucher check shall state upon its face to whom it is payable, the amount, and the purpose for which it is used…

(a) The board of any fire protection district established pursuant to a vote of the electors as authorized in this subchapter, and the board of any fire protection district established by ordinance of the quorum court when so authorized by a vote of electors in the district as au…

(a) It shall be plainly stated on the face of each bond that it has been issued under the provisions of this subchapter, that the bonds shall be obligations only of the district, and that in no event shall they constitute any indebtedness for which the faith and credit of the sta…

(a) Bonds may be issued for the purpose of refunding any bonds issued under this subchapter. (b) Refunding bonds may be either sold or delivered in exchange for the bonds being refunded. (c) If sold, the proceeds may be either applied to the payment of the bonds being refunded or…

Bonds issued under the provisions of this subchapter and the interest thereon shall be exempt from all state, county, and municipal taxes, including ad valorem, income, inheritance, and estate taxes.

(a) A fire protection district created pursuant to this subchapter may be dissolved upon a vote of a majority of qualified electors of the district, and the question of dissolution of the district may be submitted to the electors in the same manner as is prescribed in this subcha…

Fire protection improvement districts or fire protection districts organized under this subchapter are authorized to contract with a city, town, or county, the state, the federal government, or an existing fire protection improvement district or fire protection district for the p…

(a) (1) (A) When petitions are filed with the board of commissioners of a fire protection district created pursuant to this subchapter containing the signatures of at least ten percent (10%) of qualified electors of a portion of the unincorporated area of the county, as determine…