LITTLE ROCK - Democrats will have a majority of seats on an Arkansas House panel that will take up any proposals to cut taxes next year, despite the party's ranks thinning in the majority-Republican Legislature.

Democrats on Thursday secured 11 of the 20 seats on the House Revenue and Taxation Committee as representatives caucused and selected committees ahead of next year's legislative session. The meeting came two days after Republicans expanded their majorities in the House and Senate.

The panel will be key during next year's session, with Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson proposing a $50 million income tax cut that would take effect in the fiscal year that begins July 2018. Other Republicans are expected to push for deeper cuts during next year's session.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Jacksonville High School announced this week their new "Jacksonville Promise" program for JHS juniors and seniors, in the graduating classes of 2017-20.

The program guarantees unconditional acceptance to UALR for students who sign a contract and successfully complete the college preparatory core, score a 19 or better on the ACT or get a combined reading/math SAT score of at least 910 and have a cumulative GPA of at least 2.5. The contract is non-binding though, so they can opt to attend any college or university after graduation.

An assembly was held at JHS for parents and students. There, Larry Wilson, president and CEO of Arkansas Bank and Trust of Jacksonville, announced a gift of $25,000 from his family's Wilson Charitable Trust to help Jacksonville Promise students in their freshman year at UALR. The Wilson Charitable Trust Freshman Year Awards will provide from $500 to $1,000 to students in need of financial assistance.

When students and parents sign the contract, they will also have the option to participate in numerous services, including:

• Group and personalized workshops for parents and students to help them complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application, outline a financial aid package and learn about scholarships.

• Student experience and orientation days at UALR.

• Writing and math tutoring.

• ACT preparation.

• Placement tests for college admission.

• A hotline to UALR for students, parents and teachers.

• Concurrent academic enrollment to receive college credit while in high school and opportunity for earlier college degree completion.

• Participation in the Dr. Charles W. Donaldson Scholars Academy and/or the TRIO Talent Search program if eligible.

• Job mentoring with UALR alumni.

• Special recognition as a Jacksonville Promise graduate.

The University of Central Arkansas in Conway announced on Thursday that Bunny and Carol Adcock have established a $1 million endowment for study abroad opportunities.

A check presentation is set for 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Wingo Hall Board of Trustees Conference Room.

The Adcock Study Abroad Fund will "provide opportunities for generations of UCA students to travel the world, learn other cultures and languages, interact with others and really change UCA and Arkansas," UCA President Tom Courtway said in a news release. "What these students will learn and experience, and then bring back to UCA and our state will pay enormous dividends for our state and institution down the road."

This is the second endowment from the Adcocks for study abroad opportunities. The first was for students majoring in a foreign language who also planned to become educators. It has has provided a total of $45,000 to more than 80 students since 2000.

Carol Adcock was a foreign language instructor at UCA and an adviser for foreign language student teachers in the 1970s. When she was a student, she studied abroad in France and Mexico.

The most recent endowment, though, will allow full-time students of all majors and career paths to apply for the study abroad funds, with preference given to students majoring in a foreign language. The scholarships will fund up to 75 percent of program costs that include travel, food, lodging and tuition and fees.

"That's all a part of growing and expanding your horizons and that's what will happen to these students. They will grow and develop and be more educated because they left McGehee, Arkansas, and saw there’s a lot more to this world than just McGehee," Bunny said in the release, referring to his own hometown. "It's just like studying history. It is part of an education."

Teresa Sutterfield has been named customer service manager for Stone Bank in Mountain View.

Sutterfield’s 37-year banking career includes positions as assistant vice president and branch manager for First Security Bank and branch manager for the Bank of Mountain View.

Sheena Ziegler has joined Stone Bank’s White Hall office as a customer service representative. She has past banking experience and most recently worked as an assistant store manager with Hunter’s Refuge in White Hall.

See more of this week's Movers & Shakers, and submit your own announcement at ArkansasBusiness.com/Movers.

So that’s what Johnny Allison was talking about.

Last week Home BancShares Inc. of Conway, the publicly traded holding company for Centennial Bank, announced that it intends to pay $88.5 million in cash and stock in the first quarter of 2017 for a Florida bank whose $463 million in assets would push Centennial’s assets to $10.2 billion.

And that reminded Whispers of a sly comment the colorful chairman of the board made in an interview in July.

“You’ll see me stay under $10 billion this year. We’re going to stay under $10 billion,” Allison said. “You’ll see me go over $10 billion next year. And I may crawl over $10 billion. I may not leap over $10 billion. Hopefully, I’ll announce a deal sometime late this year that’ll close next year, and I think I’m going to crawl over $10 billion because I’ve absorbed ... the personnel expenses. The only thing that I haven’t absorbed is the Durbin Amendment.”

Ten billion dollars in assets is a landmark for a bank under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act of 2010 and its amendments, particularly the Durbin Amendment that caps “swipe fees” — debit card interchange fees charged to merchants. Triggering the Durbin Amendment would cost Centennial north of $6.5 million, Allison said in July.

“But my thought is I’ll buy me a $500 million bank and get me a 1.5 percent ROA, and that will take care of that,” he said.

While other banks — notably Bank of the Ozarks of Little Rock, which went from $9.8 billion at the end of 2015 to $18.5 billion as of Sept. 30 — have made big acquisitions to vault over the $10 billion mark, Allison was characteristically contrarian.

“I’m not going to leap over the $10 billion and pay two times book [value] and do it for the sake of the expense side,” he said. “I’m going to take my time. I may be the first to crawl over it, but I’ve seen enough by now that I’m not afraid to crawl over it because I’ve already absorbed most of the expenses. That one scares me.”

Turner Grain Merchandising Inc. of Brinkley transferred nearly $100 million to its related companies a year before it filed for bankruptcy protection, according to lawsuits recently filed by its Chapter 7 trustee.

Trustee M. Randy Rice of Little Rock sued those entities, Turner Commodities Inc., Ivory Rice LLC, Agribusiness Properties LLC and Brinkley Truck Brokerage LLC, in an attempt to recover $96.8 million, according to the complaints filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Helena.

Rice didn’t return a call for comment. Those companies closed about the same time as the Brinkley crop broker in August 2014. Turner Grain and its related companies were operated by Jason Coleman and Dale Bartlett. Bartlett also has filed for bankruptcy protection.

Since October, Rice has filed more than 40 suits alleging that farmers and other entities, including the U.S. government, received improper payments from Turner Grain within 90 days of its bankruptcy filing in October 2014.

The trustee sued to recover the $170,000 that farmer Keith Wilkison of Brinkley received from Turner Grain on Aug. 7, 2014, just before the 90-day window opened. The trustee alleged that the money was for crops Wilkison delivered during the 2013-14 crop year. Turner Grain still owes Wilkson $300,000 for crops delivered in 2013, he told Arkansas Business.

Wilkison, who has been farming for about 25 years, said that he hopes he won’t have to close his 3,300-acre farm if he’s forced to repay the $170,000.

“We’re already in tough times,” he said. “The banks are working with me … to try and get over this deal.”

A trustee can pursue money paid to certain creditors within 90 days of a company filing for bankruptcy protection, said Timothy Tarvin, who teaches bankruptcy law at the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville. The time frame is expanded to a year if payments are made to company insiders, such as family members and business associates.

The law is meant to keep some creditors from being favored over others and receiving “more than they would have otherwise received in the Chapter 7,” Tarvin said. A defendant, however, could raise a number of defenses, or could reach a settlement.

‘Money They Didn’t Have’

In the bankruptcy, Turner listed $13.7 million in assets, and its claims register shows $39.7 million, millions of which is owed to farmers who sold crops to Turner Grain.

Coleman and Bartlett “were paying for grain, and they were losing money somewhere in that process,” said attorney Gregory Bevel of Rochelle McCullough LLP of Dallas, who is working for the trustee. “And because they had multiple businesses and multiple bank accounts, somehow they were floating money that they didn’t have.”

Bevel said he didn’t know what happened to the money the Turner Grain-related entities received because his role in the bankruptcy is limited to two lawsuits.

A group of Lonoke County farmers who lost $5.5 million dealing with Turner Grain alleged that Coleman and Bartlett were operating a Ponzi scheme. Bevel doesn’t agree.

“As far as Turner Grain itself, I don’t think it would be accurate to describe it as a Ponzi scheme,” he said. “They weren’t taking people’s money. They were accepting shipments of corn and shipping them off, and the payments didn’t come in.”

Coleman filed an answer to the farmers’ lawsuit on Nov. 3. Although Coleman denied the allegations of wrongdoing and didn’t provide any details, it was the first time Coleman has publicly answered allegations surrounding the collapse of Turner Grain.

In early 2015, one of Turner Grain’s creditors, Southern Rice & Cotton LLC, wanted to question him about his involvement in the company. Coleman’s attorney, Lisa Ballard of North Little Rock, said in a bankruptcy filing that Coleman asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Phyllis Jones ruled in April 2015 that Coleman wouldn’t be compelled to talk.

One of Coleman’s attorneys, Jeff Rosenzweig of Little Rock, said in a bankruptcy hearing last year that Coleman would assert the Fifth Amendment because there was a federal criminal investigation going on.

As of last week, no charges had been filed against Coleman.

Ballard, who filed the answer for Coleman, didn’t return a call to Arkansas Business. Rosenzweig was unavailable for comment, and Coleman couldn’t be reached for comment.

Sloppy Record-Keeping

The lawsuits filed by Turner Grain’s trustee show that Turner Grain and the related companies were so intertwined that they shared money and other assets out of the Brinkley office. The related companies “regularly took part in the fulfillment of the same contract transactions with grain sellers and buyers as” Turner Grain, the lawsuit said.

And Turner Grain also would pay the debts of the related companies as if they were Turner’s own debts.

Gerald Loyd, 68, of Dumas was president and the only employee of Turner Commodities, which received $29.7 million from Turner Grain in the year before Turner Grain filed for bankruptcy, according to the trustee’s lawsuit.

Loyd, in an affidavit taken for the Lonoke farmers’ lawsuit and filed in June, spelled out the sloppy bookkeeping he saw.

A helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War, Loyd first became acquainted with Coleman and Bartlett in 2002 or 2003, when Loyd was working as a rice buyer for another company.

But it wasn’t until 2004 that Bartlett and Coleman approached Loyd with the idea that they should form a company that would buy and sell agricultural crops in southeast Arkansas.

“The initial proposal was that Bartlett and Coleman would help get the business started and teach me the business,” Loyd said in the filing. “The initial proposal was that Bartlett and Coleman were also to handle the record keeping, bookkeeping and banking for” Turner Commodities.

Loyd was brought into the deal because the farmers knew and trusted him.

“About a year after the business got started I figured out that Coleman and Bartlett were not real good record keepers,” Loyd said.

The bank account wasn’t being closely monitored, which led to overdrafts.

Turner Commodities operated as a back-to-back dealer, meaning Loyd would contact the potential grain buyers and ask them what crops they needed and what price they were offering to pay. Then he would call farmers and offer to buy those crops for a slightly lower price. The difference might be 5 cents per bushel.

Loyd said that Turner Commodities didn’t have to worry about being short of cash, unless a buyer or seller failed to honor its contract.

Just before the financial trouble was exposed in August 2014, Bartlett had called and, according to Loyd, said, “Jason [Coleman] has done some things that are not right and it looks like he is in bad trouble.”

By then the word had spread that Turner Grain was in financial trouble.

Loyd reviewed Turner Commodities’ bank statements and found that for more than a year Coleman had been using the account in “an unauthorized manner.” He allegedly would pull money out of the account and put it back in, using it almost as if it were a line of credit, Loyd said.

Loyd said that Turner Commodities was overdrawn about $200,000. He also said the company closed its doors after the financial problems were exposed.

Loyd said that Turner Commodities “is just a victim of that mess just like the farmers.”

The Tax Foundation, a national Washington-based nonprofit, on Monday released "Arkansas: A Road Map for Tax Reform," a report on the state's tax code and recommendations for how to change it.

The 78-year-old foundation positioned the report, produced in conjunction with the Arkansas Center for Research in Economics (ACRE) at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, as one that could inform a legislative debate on reforming the tax code and improving the economy.

Speaker of the House Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, and Rep. Jim Dotson, R-Bentonville, attended a news conference announcing the release of the report. Gillam told Arkansas Business that the Legislature wants to make progress on tax reforms in the session that begins in January but that it's too early to predict how far the effort might go. He characterized the effort as one that's not a "one-session game plan."

Among the report's recommendations: that the state eliminate some of its targeted tax breaks for businesses. It said Arkansas has "a relatively high corporate tax rate for the region, and offsets the impact with tax credits that favor certain businesses over others."

"The state should seek to lower the rate and remove these targeted tax breaks," the foundation said, adding that expanding the tax base "would give policymakers an opportunity to repeal harmful tax provisions."

More: Click here to download the report.

Gillam said that anything lawmakers decide on must be consistent with Issue 3, an amendment to the state Constitution voters approved last week. Among other things, the amendment give state economic developers more flexibility to use state-issued bonds to attract economic "super projects."

But Gillam said the report would spur good debate.

"I'm looking forward to a great session, looking forward to us being able to take this information and build on it and work with the Tax Foundation and others as we really try to make sure that Arkansas is in a competitive atmosphere when it comes to our tax structure in all areas — and do so in a responsible manner as well," he said.

He added that, while the governor has proposed $50 million in tax cuts over two years and legislators have their own list of wants, specific plans haven't been discussed.

Jeremy Horpedahl, a UCA professor and scholar at ACRE, said much of the report is based on six months of interviews with individuals, policymakers, business groups and academics across the state.

Nicole Kaeding, an economist with the Tax Foundation, said three themes emerged in every conversation: that the Arkansas tax code is too costly, too complex and unfair.

Kaeding said Arkansas has the third highest combined state and local sales tax rate, 14th highest individual income tax rate, 17th highest tax burden and 24th highest corporate income tax in the nation.

Kaeding said 10.1 percent of income in Arkansas go to pay state and local taxes, while the national average is 9.9 percent.

The report recommends transitioning either to a flat tax or a one-rate schedule versus the three the state has now for individual income tax. It also recommends lowering corporate income tax rates and transitioning either to a flat tax or consolidating the rate schedule into a two- or three-bracket system. 

The report, Kaeding said, gives lawmakers three options to consider. Two of them cut taxes for every Arkansan, but all are either revenue neutral or would not cause a dramatic decrease in revenue because the state would employ "tax triggers" to prevent that, she said.

On sales taxes, she said, Arkansas' base is not broad enough in some areas and too broad in others. Kaeding explained that the state taxes things it shouldn't, like repair parts, but then exempts a number of goods and services that should be taxed.

The report also recommends having Texarkana residents pay income tax rather than be exempt as they are now.

Economists are not expecting a new president next year to have significant effects on the local or national economies and their outlook, according to presentations at the Little Rock Economic Briefing on Wednesday.

The event was hosted by the Little Rock branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

“Next year, we will see what happens — it’s difficult to gauge economic effects of a new president before he is in office,” said Kevin Kliesen, business economist and research officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. “Our forecasts haven’t changed since the election.”

Michael Pakko, chief economist and state economic forecaster at the Institute for Economic Advancement at UALR, shared similar thoughts.

“I don’t think the outcome of the election is going to affect the economic outlook for the next few years in a serious way,” Pakko said.

Kliesen said that the country and Arkansas are “pretty much at full employment” and Pakko predicted a slight uptick in unemployment in Arkansas over the next few years, resulting in a 4.4 percent unemployment rate at the end of 2018. It currently sits at 4 percent.

Industries that have struggled to recover since the recession include housing, constructing and manufacturing.

Both Kliesen and Pakko also noted the likelihood of an interest rake hike in the near future. According to Kliesen, there is an estimated 94 percent probability of a rate increase in December.

However, Pakko said that it could be 2018 before the increase is significant enough to have a noticeable effect on the economy.

He said that over the last few years, home sales in Arkansas have been strong with an 8.7 percent increase in sales in 2016. He expects to see that trend continue in 2017 and drop off dramatically in 2018.

“We’ll have at least one more good year. But the future depends on interest and mortgage rates,” Pakko said.

He explained that impending hire rates would put pressure on homebuyers to act quickly in 2017 before rates begin to climb in 2018.

Overall, Kliesen predicted that the next three years would look very similar to the current U.S. economy: “more of the same unless something unexpected happens.”

He said the country’s unemployment rate would average around 4.75 percent and real GPD growth would average around 2 percent.

Pakko said in his presentation that he believes the Arkansas economy has an outlook similar to that of the entire U.S.

Charles Gascon, regional economist and senior research support coordinator at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, highlighted startups (0- to 5-year-old businesses) and how they propel the local economy.

In Arkansas, 10 percent of all jobs are at startups. He called them “the key to U.S. job creation and economic dynamism” because young businesses promote the most job growth.

According Gascon, startup firms are responsible for 73 percent of net job creation in Arkansas.

A bankruptcy court in Florida has declared Home BancShares Inc. of Conway the successful bidder to buy The Bank of Commerce, a Florida state-chartered bank that operates in the Sarasota area, from its parent company, Bank of Commerce Holdings Inc.

Home BancShares, the parent company of Centennial Bank, announced the move Thursday. It said that after the court enters its order approving the successful bidder designation within the next week, it will move ahead with the acquisition of all Bank of Commerce stock and other assets.

"We are excited about the opportunity to expand our footprint in the Sarasota area," Home BancShares Chairman Johnny Allison said in a news release. "This allows us to provide expanded service to our current customers. If approved, The Bank of Commerce customers will now have access to 20 Centennial locations throughout central Florida."

The deal is expected to close in first quarter of 2017 and will be subject to a court-approved final sale order.

The Bank of Commerce was chartered in 2000 and has three offices. The bank lost a combined $1.7 million in 2013-2015; its last annual profit was $393,000 in 2012. But it posted net income of $1 million in the first half of 2016.

The bank had equity capital of $7 million and assets of $209 million as of June 30.

The announcement comes 10 days after Home BancShares unveiled a $88.5 million deal to buy Giant Holdings Inc., the parent of Landmark Bank of Fort Lauderdale, which has $463 million in assets.

The deal for The Bank of Commerce would mark Home BancShares' 11th acquisition in Florida since December 2008. Home BancShares has 60 offices in Florida.

Simmons First National Corp. of Pine Bluff announced Thursday evening that it had struck a deal to acquire another Tennessee bank: First South Bank of Jackson.

Publicly traded SFNC, parent of Simmons Bank, will buy First South's holding company, Hardeman County Investment Co., with cash and stock currently valued at $72.2 million. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017.

First South has assets of $464 million and 10 branches in western Tennessee. Simmons currently has assets of about $8.2 billion, and 43 of its 156 offices are in Tennessee. Simmons entered the Volunteer State with the purchase of First State Bank of Union City in February 2015 and in September completed the purchase of Citizens National Bank of Athens, Tennessee.

"The combination of First South Bank and Simmons Bank presents a great opportunity for additional growth with expanded products and services in markets very important to our company. The addition of First South Bank strengthens our presence in western Tennessee and gives us a partner that shares common goals, experiences, cultures, and reputations as outstanding community bankers and corporate citizens," Simmons CEO George A. Makris Jr. said in the announcement.

Each outstanding share of common stock and equivalents of Hardeman will be converted into the right to receive 4.8393 shares of the Company’s common stock and $181.47 in cash, all subject to certain conditions and potential adjustments. 

First South reported net income of $6.3 million in 2015 and $3.4 million in the first half of 2016. It had $57.3 million in equity capital as of June 30. 

Simmons was advised by Keefe Bruyette & Woods, Inc., a  subsidiary of Stifel. Hardeman was advised by Olsen Palmer LLC.

LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas lawmakers are considering delaying the launch of the first medical marijuana program in the Bible Belt as well as an effort to impose taxes on the drug, as they work on legislation for next year's session spelling out how pot would be made available to patients.

The ideas are among several that lawmakers are discussing after voters approved a constitutional amendment earlier this month allowing eligible patients to buy marijuana from licensed dispensaries. The state Legislature can change parts of the amendment with a two-thirds vote, as long as it doesn't affect provisions legalizing medical marijuana or setting the number of dispensaries allowed.

Previously: How Arkansas will implement medical marijuana.

Rep. Doug House, who has been tapped by House Speaker Jeremy Gillam to focus on medical marijuana issues, said he's working on legislation that would give state agencies until early May rather than early March to adopt rules for the drug's regulation. The Republican lawmaker said it would also change the deadline for the state to begin accepting dispensary applications from June 1 to July 1. The change is needed to allow the public to weigh in on the rules and to have enough time to award contracts, House said.

"The time window is just not big enough," House said.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson and most of the majority-Republican Legislature opposed the medical marijuana measure, but the GOP governor has said he won't block its implementation and lawmakers on Friday approved his request to use $3 million from the state's rainy day fund to pay for its startup.

Sen. Bart Hester said he's studying a proposal to impose an additional tax on medical marijuana, a move that he says would help pay for a $105 million income tax cut he's proposed. Hester said he hasn't determined how the tax would be structured or the rate he'd propose, but said he believed it could win support from fellow Republicans who have signed a no-tax pledge, since it would be offset by a reduction elsewhere.

"It is a total burden on the taxpayer, it's a total burden on the people, so I think we have to find a way to make the people abusing this product to actually provide relief for those negatively affected by it," the Republican lawmaker said.

The head of the campaign behind the medical marijuana measure said he's not opposed to giving agencies more time to launch the program, but criticized the idea of an additional tax on the drug.

"I think it's outrageous that you would fund an income tax cut on the backs of sick people," said David Couch, head of Arkansans United for Medical Marijuana.

Another idea legislative leaders are weighing is changing how sales tax revenue from medical marijuana would be distributed. The amendment currently has 10 percent going toward agencies regulating the drug, with most of the remaining money going toward career education and job training programs.

"We're not going to go in the hole on this. We've got to make sure those costs are in line with the revenue," the Republican speaker said.

Lawmakers said they still face plenty of unanswered questions as they work on medical marijuana, including how much freedom the amendment will give the Legislature to limit the drug.

"I think all of us are going to have to get familiar with something that currently we're not, from the way the dispensaries to the way the growing facilities work," Senate President Jonathan Dismang, a Republican, said. "This is all brand new territory for everybody at the Capitol."

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

A 223,880-SF industrial project in Little Rock tipped the scales at $5.6 million.

7400 Scott Hamilton LLC, led by Rick Ferguson, sold off its namesake project to an investment group composed of 901 5th (Daytona) LLC, 34.55 percent; Scott Hamilton LM LLC, 30.19 percent; LAF Brothers Properties LLC, led by Jason LaFrance, 21.98 percent; and Huntsville investors LLC, 13.28 percent.

The deal is financed with a 10-year loan of nearly $4.2 million from Bear State Bank of Little Rock.

The 23.1-acre development previously was tied to an August 2008 mortgage of $4.5 million held by American Equity Investment Life Insurance Co. of Des Moines, Iowa.

The property was acquired in June 2007 as part of a $5.8 million deal with Celestica Corp. of Toronto.

Muswick Acquisition
A 58,168-SF warehouse in Little Rock weighed in at $1.3 million.

Muswick Investments LLC, led by Murad Mandani, Charles Garland and Sadiq Ali, bought the 3801 W. 65th St. project from Arkansas Rice Depot Inc.

The deal is backed with a five-year loan of $1 million from Simmons Bank of Pine Bluff.

The 4.29-acre development previously helped secure a June 2013 mortgage of $1.5 million and a December 2015 mortgage of $175,000 held by IberiaBank of Lafayette, Louisiana.

The property was purchased for $850,000 in February 2005 from Little Rock Distributing Co., led by Bennett Glazer and Michael Glazer.

Lone Purchase
A Jacksonville convenience store changed hands in a $1.2 million sale.

Sadaat Enterprises Inc., led by Syed Naqvi, acquired the Valero project at 1605 S. J.P. Wright Loop Road. The seller is Lone’s Jacksonville Inc., led by Shahlla Lone.

The deal is funded with a three-year loan of $640,000 from Arkansas Bank & Trust of Jacksonville and a $150,000 loan from Lone’s Jacksonville.

The 0.9-acre development previously was linked with a June 2007 mortgage of $723,000 from BancorpSouth Bank of Tupelo, Mississippi.

The property was bought for $700,000 in December 2000 from Mason Family LLC, led by Roger and Nancy Mason.

Multifamily Sale
An eight-unit apartment project in the Hillcrest area of Little Rock is under new ownership after a $910,000 transaction.

Sleepy Chiwawas LLC, led by John and Becky Cheairs, purchased the 4611 Woodlawn Drive project from James M. Smith.

The deal is financed with a 10-year loan of $1.3 million from Central Bank of Little Rock.

The 0.18-acre property was acquired in May 1954 as part of a $19,000 transaction.

The seller was Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church.

North Bluffs Buy
An undeveloped 1.46-acre parcel along the Arkansas River in North Little Rock drew a $363,000 transaction.

North Bluffs Development Corp., led by Lisa Ferrell and James Jackson, bought the land at the southeast corner of Rockwater Boulevard and Rockwater Lane.

The seller is Corker Family LLC, led by Sue Corker.

The deal is financed with a one-year loan of $290,400 from Farmer’s Bank & Trust of Magnolia.

The property was purchased for $60,000 in January 1999 from William Templeton.

Greater Works Deal
A 10,000-SF church in Little Rock rang up a $220,000 sale.

Greater Works Christian Church acquired its 3517 Asher Ave. facility from BJS Inc., led by Gary Acord.

The deal is backed with a five-year loan of $228,000 from Arvest Bank of Fayetteville.

The 0.84-acre development previously was tied to a February 2007 mortgage of $146,625 held by Metropolitan National Bank of Little Rock.

BJS bought the property for $173,000 more than nine years ago from U.S. Bank of Cincinnati.

Estates Foreclosure
The foreclosure sale of a 6,300-SF home in west Little Rock’s Valley Falls Estates neighborhood tipped the scales at $1.27 million.

Wells Fargo Bank of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, recovered the house from William and Judith McDaniel.

The residence previously was linked with a September 2008 mortgage of $1 million originated by Wachovia Mortgage of Raleigh, North Carolina.

The McDaniels acquired the house for $1.44 million more than eight years ago.

The sellers were Douglas and Janice Sherman.

Deauville Abode
A 3,907-SF home in the Deauville neighborhood of west Little Rock’s Chenal Valley development sold for $725,000.

Linda and Gary Teal bought the house from Joe and Lavenda Hughes.

The deal is funded with a 15-year loan of $417,000 from Simmons Bank.

The residence previously was linked with an April 2013 mortgage of $200,000 held by IberiaBank.

The location was purchased for $133,000 in April 2005 from Deltic Timber Corp. of El Dorado.

Hillcrest Home
A 3,100-SF home in the Hillcrest area of Little Rock changed hands in a $700,000 deal. Robert and Catherine Tucker acquired the house from Lephiew and Alison Dennington.

The deal is financed with a 10-year loan of $711,481 from Simmons Bank. The residence previously was tied to a December 2015 mortgage of $120,820 held by the bank.

The Denningtons bought the property for $435,000 in May 2013 from Robert Roach Jr. and his wife, Mary.

Lamarche House
A 5,022-SF home in the Lamarche Place neighborhood of west Little Rock’s Chenal Valley development is under new ownership after a $605,000 sale.

Gary Mueller and Karen Goodman purchased the house from Thomas and Susan Strickland.

The deal is backed with 15-year loans of $417,000 and $67,000 from Gateway Mortgage Group LLC of Tulsa.

The location was acquired for $63,000 in December 1998 from Deltic Timber.

Heights Residence
A 1,995-SF home in Little Rock’s Country Club Heights neighborhood drew a $505,000 transaction.

Robert Porter Jr. and his wife, Marilyn, bought the house from William and Suzanne Hawkins.

The deal is funded with a three-year loan of $850,000 from Farmers Bank & Trust of Blytheville. The Hawkins family purchased the property for $475,000 in February 2014 from Marvin Baltz.

Heritage Park
A 6,414-SF home in North Little Rock’s Heritage Park neighborhood rang up a $500,000 sale.

Shaun and Lori Harms acquired the house from the Dean E. DiMichele Trust.

The deal is financed with a 15-year loan of $375,000 from EverBank of Jacksonville, Florida.

The residence previously was linked with a November 2011 mortgage of $384,459 and a September 2013 mortgage of $135,000 held by Centennial Bank of Conway.

The property was bought for $710,000 in May 2007 from Philip and Jayne Lyon.

Metals Mortgage
A 291,674-SF industrial complex in Little Rock is helping secure a $650 million funding agreement.

Joseph T. Ryerson & Son Inc. of Chicago obtained the six-year financial package from Wells Fargo Bank.

The 21.74-acre Afco Metals development at 7701 Lindsey Road previously helped secure a January 2013 mortgage of $600 million held by Wells Fargo.

Afco was acquired by a Ryerson affiliate in 1988.

Americans’ confidence in the country’s major institutions remains low, lagging behind historical averages, according to the pollster Gallup.

Confidence in two institutions — newspapers and organized religion — fell to record lows this year, Gallup said. “The overall average of Americans expressing ‘a great deal’ or ‘quite a lot’ of confidence in 14 institutions is below 33% for the third straight year,” said Gallup, which conducted its survey June 1-5.

Gallup said Americans’ confidence in institutions “has remained relatively low since 2007. That year, the average for the 14 institutions Gallup has asked about annually since 1993 dropped to 32% from 38% in 2006. (Gallup began asking about a 15th institution, small business, in 2007.) From 1993 to 2006, the average had been below 38% only once —- in 1994, when it dipped to 36%.”

The institutions experiencing the greatest decline in confidence during the last decade are banks, organized religion, the news media and Congress, Gallup said, which released the results of its poll June 13.

The September failure of the $66.3 million-asset Allied Bank of Mulberry marked the fifth lender in the nation to go under so far this year. Others are:

• The Woodbury Banking Co. of Woodbury, Georgia, in August.
  Total assets: $21.4 million.
• First CornerStone Bank of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, in May.
  Total assets: $103.3 million.
• Trust Co. Bank of Memphis in April.
  Total assets: $20.7 million.
• North Milwaukee State Bank of Milwaukee in March.
  Total Assets: $67.1 million.

The last Arkansas bank to fail was the $191.8 million-asset First Southern Bank of Batesville in December 2010. The 2005 launch of First Southern marked a third investment in an out-of-market startup by some financial backers.

Investors in First State Bank of Lonoke, Fidelity National Bank of West Memphis and Cross County Bank of Wynne also helped fund Pinnacle Bank and Central Bank.

There are a lot of moving parts to the acquisition equation in the pending merger of Pinnacle Bank of Rogers and Central Bank of Little Rock.

A banking insider best-guess estimate pegs the valuation at about $3.4 million.

That’s the stock-cash consideration to purchase Pinnacle’s parent company, Pinnacle Bancshares Inc. The proposed transaction would create a $206 million-asset Central Bank with a branch in Rogers in addition to a pair of Little Rock locations.

Since opening in February 2007, Central Bank has produced total net income of $2.1 million.

The biggest stain on its nearly 10-year profit picture occurred in 2009 when $5.4 million was added to its provision for loan losses. The move preceded charge-offs of $4.7 million during 2010.

Among its 2010 licks was a $2.5 million participation in a loan secured by stock in First Southern Bank of Batesville that went bust from the Kevin Lewis special improvement district bond fraud scheme.

But back to the pending transaction using $3.4 million as our guide.

The big three Pinnacle shareholders are listed below:

• Thomas Garrison of Fayetteville, 16.07 percent worth $546,000
• The Hugh McClain Trust of Mountain Home, 6.34 percent worth $215,000
• Cross County Bancshares Inc. of Wynne, 5.32 percent worth $180,000.

Other Pinnacle investors include the following:

• Clarence Guinn of Rogers, 3.73 percent worth $126,000
• Alan Sharp of Bentonville, 2.39 percent worth $81,000
• David Estes of Quitman, 2.17 percent worth $73,000
• Bruce Loftin of Springdale, 1.48 percent worth $50,000
• Wade Ruckle of Maumelle, 1.22 percent worth $41,000
• Buddy Vernetti of Bentonville, 1.12 percent worth $38,000.

Common Ownership
Some of those Pinnacle investors also are stakeholders in Central Bank.

The Ruckle family holds a 4.6 percent position. Wade Ruckle is president and CEO of Central Bank.

David Estes, CEO of First State Bank of Lonoke, owns 1.3 percent. The Loftin family has 0.3 percent.

Cross County Bancshares, parent company of Cross County Bank of Wynne, holds a 9.2 percent stake, the biggest of the common owners. Other bank holding companies have a piece of Central Bank too.

• Lonoke Bancshares Inc., parent company of First State Bank, 7.3 percent
• Southeast Financial Bankstock Corp., parent company of McGehee Bank, 4.9 percent
• Carlson Bancshares Inc., parent company of Fidelity National Bank of West Memphis, 2 percent.

Central Bank, Little Rock
Total Assets: $117.8 million
Net Income: $666,000
Equity Capital: $17.8 million
OREO: $644,000
Staff: 14
Locations: Two full-service locations in Little Rock
(As of Sept. 30)

Another party has joined foreclosure litigation against Little Rock businessman Walter Quinn, his wife, Terry, and the Quinn Living Trust.

Malvern National Bank entered the fray to stake its first mortgage claim on the couple’s 7,490-SF home in the Riverview Point neighborhood.

The bank is seeking a $1.2 million judgment on the 2012 loan, which is in default.

Prosperity Bank of El Campo, Texas, started the foreclosure ball rolling in September with its default claim tied to a $4.9 million consent judgment.

That judgment, landed a year ago in Tulsa’s federal court, is connected with a 2013 mortgage secured by the house and a string of Quinn’s business interests.

Both bank debts are personally guaranteed by the Quinns and their Quinn Living Trust, which owns the residence.

The Prosperity debt began as a pair of delinquent loans associated with Walter Quinn’s soured oil and gas investments.

You might recall that Walter Quinn is a leading shareholder in Rock Bancshares Inc., parent company of Little Rock’s $219 million-asset Heartland Bank. He stepped down last year as a bank director and as chairman, president and CEO of Rock Bancshares.

Have you heard talk that Simmons First National Corp. of Pine Bluff is buying the Acxiom Corp. building in downtown Little Rock?

We have.

We also made official inquiries, which were met with neither confirmation nor denial.

One of our operatives reports that Simmons representatives in late October did a final walk-through of the 188,460-SF building at 601 E. Third St.

We can confirm that Simmons has been interested in the 10-story office building with supporting five-story parking deck for some time.

The property marked “For Sale” is still considered the Acxiom headquarters, though most top tier execs office elsewhere.

That’s elsewhere, as in outside of Arkansas.

Another operative wondered if someone else was buying the building and that Simmons staffers were touring the property in connection with financing the deal.

If the year-end time table we’re told is truly in play, the picture should become clearer during the next few weeks.

InVeritas of Little Rock announced Monday that State Commissioner of Revenues Tim Leathers would join them as vice president of consulting on Jan. 1.

Leathers is also deputy director of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.

He will provide strategic guidance and support to the public affairs firm’s clients based on his decades of experience in finance, government and law, according to a news release. InVertitas’ primary practice areas include public relations, management consulting, government relations and market research.

“Tim has served as a loyal and trusted advisor to seven governors in his nearly 40-year career with the state of Arkansas,” CEO Ruth Whitney said. “His extensive experience, contacts and ability to work with individuals on both sides of the aisle will broaden the firm’s practice and reinforce our track record of success.”

Leathers began his career with the DFA in 1977 as a legal assistant and later served as a revenue tax attorney. He was appointed chief counsel in 1982 – a position he held for seven years before being hired as commissioner of revenues.

Leathers has served as deputy director and commissioner of revenues since 1994. He managed 2,500 employees and oversaw the budget, personnel management, accounting, purchasing and revenue offices.

Under his tenure, the state implemented the Arkansas Tax Procedure Act, which provided a standard process for the administration of all state taxes and fair method for taxpayers to comply with tax laws. He is also responsible for the current organizational structure of the DFA.

Leathers earned his bachelor’s degree and Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and served as a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve JAG Corps.

Arkansas consumers made large household purchases in the past six months and expect to make more now because they don't expect problems getting credit in the near future, according to the third installment of the fall 2016 Arvest Consumer Sentiment Survey.

This final piece of the survey, conducted in August and released Tuesday, focuses on consumers' attitudes concerning spending, saving and debt.

Of the 1,200 randomly surveyed, 41 percent had made a major household purchase – such as furniture, televisions and refrigerators – in the past six months, up from 39 percent in March. According to the report, 35 percent of respondents also see the next six months as a time to go ahead with large planned purchases.

More: See the full report here.

Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas and lead economist for the survey, said Arkansans set a new high level of optimism in the August survey.

"This is the highest level of purchase expectations since the Arvest Consumer Sentiment Survey began," Deck said. "Current savings rates were down slightly from the previous period, but in line with what consumers have been reporting over the past few years."

For Arkansans planning on acquiring debt in the next six months, the largest percentages were those seeking auto loans and credit cards at 6 percent, both down from 7 percent in March.

"We're seeing a steady spending stream here, as well as healthy plans for future spending," said Jim Cargill, president and CEO of Arvest Bank in central Arkansas. "The purchase plans for many Arkansans reflect financial confidence, in that they are pursuing consumer, auto and mortgage loans."

From March to August, Arkansas consumers' household savings rate decreased from 16.4 percent to 13.4 percent. But the percentage of those planning to increase their savings rate rose from 21 percent to 26 percent.

Forty percent had mortgages in August and 37 percent had auto loans. Those who reported having no outstanding debt were 34 percent — significantly higher than the region as a whole at 28 percent.

Last month, the first part of the results showed that Arkansas' consumer sentiment index was 86.7, the highest since the survey began in spring 2014. And in the beginning of November, the second part of the survey indicated that 42 percent of Arkansans were expecting their financial situations to improve soon. 

LAS VEGAS — A federal court on Tuesday blocked implementation of a rule imposed by President Barack Obama's administration that would have made an estimated 4 million more higher-earning workers across the country eligible for overtime pay starting Dec. 1.

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