Low Costs, Scenery : Retirees Head for the Hills--of Arkansas

Arkansas is growing old.

Old as in white hair, pensions and Social Security. Old as in retirees.

The land of the Ozarks now has the unexpected distinction of having a greater percentage of people over 65 than any other state except Florida, long a retirement haven.

While Florida, with 17.6% of its population over retirement age, is clearly in the lead, Arkansas, with 14.3%, is second and growing, thanks mainly to an influx into the picturesque mountains in the northern part of the state, country once associated with hillbillies, moonshiners and little else.

True, many states, including California, have a larger number of residents over 65. But in terms of percentages, Arkansas is becoming a state of choice for life after the presentation of the gold watch.

Heber Springs, with its rustic lakeside setting in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains, is awash with retirees, from the well-to-do to those with more modest incomes.

Outgoing Mayor Ray Robus, who will himself turn 65 this year and begin collecting his Social Security, figures that fully 80% of the town’s population growth in recent years has come from pensioners. And Heber Springs has grown from a town of 2,500 when he arrived in 1962 to a bustling burg of 5,500 today.

“The new people have outgrown the natives,” he said.

Bank deposits here have grown from $4.4 million in 1960 to more than $107 million in 1984. Retail sales have increased six-fold since the late ‘60s. Meanwhile, school enrollments, a barometer of younger people moving in, have remained fairly static. That pattern of growth is much the same in other parts of the mountains.

Retirees to the Ozarks, which stretch across the northwest part of the state, are drawn here by inexpensive housing, low property taxes, the generally low cost of living and the sometimes breathtaking scenery of the mountains and lakes.

Most Residents White

But for some of the newcomers, there is another reason as well, one seldom stated, or mentioned only guardedly. It is that the population in the Ozarks is almost entirely white, and some older whites abandoning the big cities of the Midwest make that a consideration in retiring here.

“It comes down to low taxes and no blacks,” said one longtime Heber Springs woman who refused to let her name be used because, she said, she is surrounded by neighbors who moved here for just those reasons.

Mayor Robus concurs that the racial issue has been a factor in the rush to the Ozarks. But he contends it is not a primary reason most people move here. “It is a consideration, but I wouldn’t say it is a major consideration,” he said.

But there is the story, told by another woman who asked that her name not be used, of a couple who moved to the exclusive Eden Isle retirement community just outside Heber Springs some years ago. They brought their black household workers with them, she said, and were told by their neighbors, in no uncertain terms, that there were plenty of white people who would be willing to work for them.

Racism, however, had nothing to do with Bob and Emajean Harvie’s reason for moving to Eden Isle from Detroit, where he was the chief metallurgical engineer for Chevrolet and helped design the fiberglass body of the first Corvette.

“We expected that there would be a lot of blacks,” Emajean said. “Then we discovered (when they arrived) there were no blacks in the county.”

Left Crowds, Traffic

The Harvies said they left Detroit to get away from the crowds, the traffic that meant “it would take an hour to get someplace when it should have taken 10 or 15 minutes” and the crime. “And the crime level here is very low,” Harvie said. “It’s just a very safe place.”

There is, too, the fact that their property taxes are about $2,000 less each year than they were in Detroit, that one doesn’t need a tee time for the golf course, that the year has four distinct--but mild--seasons, and that the Harvies can tool around Greers Ferry Lake in their party boat.

“I’ve never been tempted to go back to Detroit,” Harvie said. Since they settled in the densely wooded Eden Isle 11 years ago, the Harvies have lured nine other retired couples here from Detroit.

The rise in the numbers of retirees in Arkansas is bringing changes. Banks in the Ozarks are prospering as never before as people moving in deposit their life savings. And Arkansas, once a staunchly Democratic state, is taking a more conservative turn in places where the flatlands give way to mountains. Republican leaders are gleeful about their new-found source of voters.

“The importance for the Republicans, in a word, is that it has been a bonanza,” said state party Chairman Ed Bethune. “I’ve seen this thing develop over the years. When I started campaigning in North Arkansas in the ‘60s, it was like pulling teeth to find people to come out and help you. I think it already is a major base. It has had a tremendous impact on Arkansas politics. The people in the Republican Party are no longer considered carpetbaggers.”

Retirement Communities

Increasingly, the retirement industry is big business. Northern Arkansas is dotted with multimillion-dollar retirement communities, each with thousands of residents who buy into them for the camaraderie of being around other retirees. One is Fairfield Bay resort, about 30 miles northwest of Heber Springs, a self-sustaining enclave so far off the beaten path that finding it requires a detailed road map of Arkansas.

Roger Goodwin, who sells houses and condominiums, has been with the resort since he graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1970. He said that over the years he has watched the average age in this part of the state increase by 25 or 30 years.

Goodwin was discussing this while driving around the 16,000-acre community, pointing out golf courses, tennis courts, $30,000 condominiums and homes that go for $70,000 and up--homes that in better sections of Los Angeles might cost at least four times that much.

He said most of the people who come here pay cash for their Fairfield property, using the equity in the homes where they lived before retirement.

No House Payments

“That is important to most people who live here--to not have to worry about more house payments,” he said.

Goodwin drove past the shopping mall, which has everything from a printing shop (owned by one of the retirees) to a supermarket. “We’ve got everything we want here except a discount store,” said resident Marcella Keegan, who moved here from Minneapolis seven years ago with her husband.

But while Goodwin is busy promoting Fairfield Bay, he also admits that he hopes there is not an avalanche of huge developments for retirees in Arkansas. He was born and reared here. He lives on a ranch just down the road from his office and he wants the state to retain its rustic atmosphere.

“It could grow too fast,” he said. “It could become commercialized. We are not California. We are not Arizona.”

But on the other hand, he has been around long enough to know that others want to share in the beauty of the Ozarks, as well as the relatively low cost of living. And he knows that more retirees will be coming from the Detroits and Chicagos and Clevelands of the nation.

“Back in the ‘60s, a larger percentage of the people looked at Arkansas as a backward state, and that was real,” he said. “But I think more and more people have figured that’s not all bad. You don’t earn $25 an hour in an auto plant, but you do have a nice place to live.”