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The Berryville City Council approved salary increases for Mayor Tim McKinney and city attorney Clint Scheel at the council’s regular meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 2.
The separate ordinances approved by the council increased McKinney’s annual salary from $50,000 to $52,000 and raised Scheel’s annual salary from $30,000 to $31,000. The ordinances also stipulate that salaries for the mayor and city council will be set each year in the annual operating budget approved by the council.
The council had voted in November 2022 to increase McKinney’s salary from $27,200 to $50,000 a year. McKinney, 71, has served as mayor for more than 33 years and is the longest-tenured mayor currently serving in Arkansas.
“I think you all were very generous last year and you gave me a good salary,” McKinney told council members. “What I would suggest is the mayor gets the same raise as the other employees every year. It just goes in the budget. I know the council doesn’t like to pass ordinances giving raises to the mayor. I understand that but this would — what happens is you don’t give the mayor (a raise) for a long time … where if you give the same raise as the rest of the employees, you stay caught up. You don’t wait 10 years to pass an ordinance and then you’re $20,000 behind and you have to bring it up $20,000 all at once and it’s a shock. It’s up to you. I’m happy with what I’m making. I have no complaints.”
After approving the first reading of the ordinance increasing McKinney’s salary, the council voted to suspend the rules and proceed with the second and third readings at the Jan. 2 meeting. The council voted 3-0 for approval on all three readings, with council member Max Nichols absent.
The council approved all three readings of the ordinance increasing Scheel’s salary in similar fashion.
In other business, the council voted 3-0 to approve a resolution expressing the city’s willingness to utilize a federal surface transportation block grant to help pay for improvements at the intersections of Highway 62 and West Church Avenue and Highway 62 and West Madison Avenue, the east and west ends of the Berryville Public Square. McKinney explained that the project will include adding new traffic signals with cameras at each intersection to help with traffic flow as well as adding crosswalks.
McKinney and assistant Jay Lee also told the council about recommendations from the city’s Planning Commission, which include prohibiting parking along several city streets and also changing the speed limits on some streets.
During the portion of the meeting designated for mayor’s comments, McKinney told council members that the city plans to move its recycling dropoff location to the Carroll County Solid Waste Authority’s transfer station at 1106 Industrial Drive. McKinney said the transfer station is a more secure location than the current recycling dropoff at 206 Branch Road, behind City Hall, which he hopes will be a deterrent to individuals dropping off non-recyclable garbage. McKinney said the goal is to move the recycling dropoff to the transfer station by Feb. 1.
The Berryville City Council’s next regular meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 16, at City Hall.
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