Carroll County News: Local News: BV City Council increases voluntary tax, police get new cruisers (09/20/12)

The Berryville Police Department recently welcomed three new police cruisers to the force. The 2012 Chevy Capreses were purchased with $97,270 accrued from a special half-cent sales tax passed by voters last June.

BERRYVILLE -- Berryville City Council members voted Tuesday to increase a voluntary property tax reserved for cemetery maintenance. The ordinance had passed a first reading last month, and council members passed the second and final readings this week.

The tax, which is completely voluntary, was raised from 0.6 to 1 mil. Mayor Tim McKinney said last month that the tax had contributed between $5,000 and $6,500 to city coffers for each of the past three years.

He said he hoped that figure would rise to $7,300 to $7,500 with the higher millage. Even that amount would be a fraction of the $35,000 to $40,000 McKinney estimated is spent on the cemetery annually.

At last month's meeting, Alderman Max Nichols had questioned whether raising the millage might cause some volunteers to stop paying the tax. However, Alderman Joel Gibson said he didn't think that would happen.

"My thinking on it is this: If they aren't paying it now, they won't pay it then," he said. "The ones that are paying it now will go ahead and pay the difference ."

"I think they're proud of the cemetery and proud of the way it's being kept up," he said.

Also Tuesday, Berryville Police Chief Dave Muniz updated council on happenings within the police department. He said officers had written fewer tickets and received fewer offense reports compared with last August. Nearly twice as many accidents were reported, however.

Muniz also said the department had received three new police cruisers.

The mayor's office said the cars were purchased with $97,270 from the half-cent sales tax passed by voters last June. McKinney said the new cars would save the city money in the long term. The department had been spending as much as $2,000 a month on vehicle maintenance and repairs, he said. Many of the cars in the police fleet are more than a decade old.

"Our old Impalas, they just weren't made for police work," Lt. Randy Haven said. "They were always breaking down on us."

The new vehicles are 2012 Chevy Capreses. They were manufactured in Australia and shipped to Little Rock, where they were painted and outfitted for police service.

The cars are equipped with heavy-duty suspension and dashboard-mounted cameras. "They were built from the ground up as a police package," Haven said.