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August 2, 2026
HOPE, Ark. — Hempstead County voters will decide in November whether the county can issue up to $13.5 million in bonds to pay for improvements at Southwest Arkansas Regional Medical Center.
The Hempstead County Quorum Court unanimously adopted Ordinance 2026-8, placing the question on the Nov. 3 ballot. The measure would not create a new tax. Instead, the bonds would be repaid using proceeds from the three-quarter-cent countywide sales tax voters approved in June, allowing the county to borrow the money up front rather than funding projects gradually as tax revenue accumulates.
The bonds could not extend beyond Sept. 30, 2036, when the current sales tax is scheduled to expire unless voters renew it.
Justice of the Peace Ed Darling said the significance of the vote was that it clears the way to make the improvements all at once rather than piecemeal. He said the county considered a pay-as-you-go approach but concluded that too many patient safety needs at the hospital required attention as soon as possible.
Darling said the county has laid out specifically what the money would fund. Planned work includes replacing the roof at a cost of roughly $2.4 million, new heating and air conditioning units, and renovation of a waiting area that residents had raised concerns about. Equipment purchases would include new MRI, ultrasound and CT scanning capability.
Darling argued the imaging upgrades address a delay he says patients face now. In his account, a patient waits a week or two for a callback, then another week or two to schedule a test — time he said could otherwise be spent in treatment. He described that as his own experience with seeking care in Texarkana and said the county wants the hospital to be competitive.
KTYT has not sought a response from Texarkana health systems regarding Darling's characterization, and no provider has publicly responded to it. His comments were made in support of the ballot measure.
Ryan Bowman, an attorney with the Little Rock firm Friday, Eldredge & Clark, attended the meeting to explain what the bond issue would allow the county to do and to take questions.
Justice of the Peace Jessie Henry raised the possibility that residents may not understand why another election is required after they already approved the hospital sales tax. "I think a lot of the general public doesn't understand about the bonds," Henry said. Darling agreed.
The court also amended the county jail fund operating budget for 2026 and adopted Appropriation Ordinance 2026-11, allocating $915.13 received through the national opioid settlement to the county's Adult Drug Court program, in a distribution requested by Circuit Judge Randy Culpepper.
Southwest Arkansas Regional Medical Center is a 25-bed critical access hospital in Hope. It operated as Wadley Regional Medical Center at Hope until 2024, when Pafford Health Systems acquired it following the bankruptcy of previous owner Steward Health Care.
The election is Tuesday, Nov. 3.