"No bonds will be issued for any purpose unless the Refunding Bonds are also approved." That sentence is in the middle of the City of Rogers section of the Benton County sample ballot, set inside a paragraph of bond language that is easy to skip. It explains how the whole November 3 special election works.
Rogers voters will see six bond questions: Fire, Police, Animal Services, Refunding, Streets, and Parks and Recreation. Five of them name things you could drive on, play on or call for help from. The sixth refinances debt. Each question gets its own vote, but none of the other five can be issued unless the sixth passes.
The question with no ribbon-cutting
The Refunding Bonds question asks for up to $118 million to pay off the city's outstanding sales and use tax bonds, Series 2018B and Series 2022. The city's FAQ gives the reason plainly. "The City must pay off its existing bond debt before it can issue the new debt included in the 2026 proposal," it says, and so approval of the refinancing issue "is required before any of the new bond issues can proceed."
That changes how the other questions work. The FAQ says voters "may approve or reject individual bond issues," and that a project in a failed category would mostly not move forward "because the City does not have another identified funding source to complete them." So the five project questions are independent of one another, and every one of them depends on the refunding question. A strong yes on parks would not fund Westside Park if the refunding question fails.
The ballot's own wording lays out the condition this way:
If the bonds for one or more of the purposes are approved and one of such purposes is the Refunding Bonds, there will be levied a new 1% sales and use tax... The rate of taxation will be 1% even if bonds for more than one purpose are approved.
That last clause is the second structural fact. The tax rate stays at 1% no matter how many of the five project questions pass. What changes is how much gets built with that one penny.
Why the tax language reads two ways
The ballot says "there will be levied a new 1% sales and use tax." The city's FAQ answers "Does this proposal create a new sales tax?" with "No." Both statements describe the same mechanism.
The ballot continues that the new tax "will replace the City's existing 1% sales and use tax levied in 2018 for the sole purpose of retiring bonds," and that it takes effect "the day following the date the existing tax expires." The FAQ's version: "A 'yes' vote would extend the current tax to repay the proposed bonds. It does not create an additional 1% sales tax." On the rate, the city writes that the proposal "would continue the existing 1% local sales tax at its current rate. It would not increase the local sales tax rate."
Legally, it is a new levy that replaces the old one. At the register, the rate is the same. The ballot also says the replacement tax "will expire after the bonds have been paid." The city adds that bond proceeds "may only be used for the purposes approved by voters" and cannot go toward general operating costs.
Where the other $339 million would land
The six maximum amounts total $457.25 million, which headlines from Axios NW Arkansas and 5NEWS have rounded to $457 million. Take out the $118 million refunding question and $339.25 million is left for projects. Streets account for well over half of that. Here are the five project questions, largest first, with what the city has named for each.
Streets, up to $195.5 million. The city's overview lists Oak Street from Promenade to 2nd Street, an Osage Creek bridge, and intersection work at 22nd and 13th. Walnut Street from Dixieland to 8th Street would be widened with sidewalks, stormwater work, buried utilities and a streetscape. Arkansas Street from Chestnut to Union is described as a downtown bypass route and a new route heading west. Olive Street work, including at 24th and 40th streets, is framed as east-west connectivity. The list also covers the historic downtown brick streets, downtown alleyways, stormwater pipe and floodplain and stream restoration. The city says the program would repair, resurface or rebuild about half of Rogers' streets, more than 200 miles.
Parks and Recreation, up to $81.5 million. The largest item is Westside Park, on city-owned land near Pleasant Grove Road and Rainbow Road. At about 250 acres, it would increase Rogers' park land by nearly 38%. Plans include trails, athletic fields, recreation amenities, a recycling drop-off and environmental education. The recycling site would be in addition to the existing east-side drop-off, which the city says will stay open. The category also covers buying, remodeling and expanding the Rogers Activity Center, with more basketball and volleyball courts, fitness areas, locker rooms and support space, plus a central maintenance facility for the Parks Department. The Activity Center already moved under city Parks and Recreation oversight this spring. KNWA reported in April that programs and schedules were expected to stay the same during that change.
Fire, up to $32.75 million. This would pay for an expanded Fire Training Campus with a large indoor facility for year-round use, an expansion of Station 2 from three apparatus bays to five, a renovation of Station 1, an upgraded alerting system at every station, and fire-truck replacement.
Police, up to $20.75 million. This would fund a Police Support Building that increases evidence-storage capacity by about 400%, a renovation of the police department, and covered parking.
Animal Services, up to $8.75 million. This would build a new campus with about twice the current capacity, outdoor play yards, an indoor and outdoor cat area, and private rooms for meeting adoptable animals.
The 2018 package as a yardstick
The last time Rogers did this, in August 2018, voters approved about $240 million in project bonds plus nearly $60 million to refinance existing bonds. The project money split into $178 million for streets, $41 million for parks, $11.5 million for police and $9.5 million for fire.
Compared with that package, the 2026 proposal shifts emphasis in specific ways:
- Streets go from $178 million to $195.5 million, a modest increase for the largest category.
- Parks roughly double, from $41 million to $81.5 million.
- Fire more than triples, from $9.5 million to $32.75 million.
- Police rises from $11.5 million to $20.75 million.
- Animal Services appears as its own question for the first time in this comparison.
- The refinancing share roughly doubles, from nearly $60 million to $118 million, partly because it now retires the 2018B bonds that the last package created.
2018 is also a useful guide to what bond money turns into on the ground. That year's reporting described a planned 70-acre Mt. Hebron Park, renovations at Frisco Park and Northwest Park, a police dispatch and emergency operations center, Fire Station 8, and additions to the fire training center. The city's August 2026 page on past bond projects now lists Mt. Hebron Park, Railyard Park, Fire Station 8, the Fire Training Center and Burn Building, and the Emergency Dispatch Center among its completed work. That page groups them across the 2003, 2011 and 2018 programs rather than crediting each one to a single program.
What the city has not promised
The city has published no year-by-year delivery calendar for the 2026 list. On roads, the FAQ says major projects will move forward when they are ready rather than in a fixed order. It describes Oak Street from 28th to Promenade and Arkansas Street from Chestnut to Union as furthest along, though both still depend on right-of-way acquisition and utility relocation.
Designs are not final either. For Walnut Street, the FAQ says the current concept includes a raised median and roundabouts at Dixieland and at 13th Street, and that the plan is not finished. If you drive Walnut every day, the concept drawing is the best preview available right now, and it may still change.
The materials also leave some popular places off the list. The overview and sample ballot don't name Lake Atalanta, the Railyard, or a specific new trail corridor. The parks and streets questions authorize trail work in general terms. Olive Street Park and Fire Station 4 are already under construction and expected to open in 2027, according to the mayor's 2026 State of the City address.
City Council voted unanimously on August 11 to call the special election, and KNWA reported that the Rogers-Lowell Chamber of Commerce told the council it supports holding it.
When and where to vote
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, and early voting in Benton County starts Monday, October 19. A county order signed August 28 set three early voting sites in Rogers:
- Benton County Election Commission, 1428 W. Walnut St. Open October 19–24 and October 26–November 2, generally 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. hours on October 31 and November 2.
- First Baptist Church Rogers, 3364 W. Pleasant Grove Road. Open October 19–23, October 26–30 and November 2.
- Sunnyside Baptist Church, 210 E. Locust St. Check the county order for this site's days and hours before you go.
The Rogers questions appear on the same ballot as the general election races, so the six bond questions come after a full list of other contests. Looking over the sample ballot at home first makes the refunding paragraph easier to read than it will be in the booth.
If one of these projects is planned for your street or near your neighborhood and you'd like to know how buyers tend to ask about planned road or park work during a sale, Roe Team is glad to walk through it with you. When you want a current, local read on what your own home is worth, ask us for a free home valuation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
