Berryville mayor will seek sales tax to fund streets

Berryville Mayor Tim McKinney plans to seek voters’ approval for a sales tax to help fund the city’s street department, he said during his annual State of the City address to the city council on Tuesday, Feb. 6.

The street department is the most fiscally challenging area of city government, McKinney said, because it generates no revenue to offset the significant cost of maintaining and repairing city streets.

“Inflation and the costs of maintenance have risen more than anything else I can think of over the last 10 years,” McKinney said in his address, which is published in its entirety beginning on Page 4A. “This is why I will be presenting a proposal to place a sales tax on the ballot for our citizens to vote either late this year or early 2025.”

Without additional revenue, the city will not be able to keep up with street maintenance, McKinney said.

“I have always tried to be honest with the citizens of Berryville, and so I must tell you there is no way we can continue to maintain the streets we currently have and meet our future growth without additional income,” McKinney said. “I don’t want to make this a ‘do or die’ situation as we will always have streets to drive on; they just may not be very smooth and functional.”

With the city’s population growing and creating a need for expanded infrastructure, the need for more funding will be even more critical, the mayor said.

“Even though it will probably be necessary to go into debt for any major new street projects, new revenue is desperately needed if we are going to match the growth of our infrastructure with the economic growth we are hopefully looking at in the years ahead. I hope our citizens will give this proposal serious consideration when the time comes,” McKinney said.

Also during his State of the City address, McKinney said negotiations for a potential $65 million to $80 million investment by a “large international company” are close to completion, pending an agreement between Entergy and Carroll Electric to ensure the company will have access to electricity at an affordable price.

On Dec. 5, 2023, the council voted 3-0 to authorize McKinney to enter an agreement to sell approximately 77 acres inside the city’s business park for $880,000.

McKinney declined to identify the buyer of the property, citing a non-disclosure agreement. He said some minor details were being ironed out in a purchase agreement that he expected to have finalized the following morning.

During his remarks in presenting the proposal to the council, McKinney said the buyer was “a new business coming to Berryville.”

At the Feb. 6 meeting, McKinney said the last step in the process of securing the company’s investment in Berryville “involves our two local electric companies coming to an agreement to make sure this new company has the electrical service it needs at a price that will allow them to be competitive, since electricity is by far their biggest operating cost.”

McKinney explained that the service boundary line between Entergy and Carroll Electric bisects the city’s new business park, which has complicated the issue of ensuring the new company has adequate electricity.

“I do have faith that Carroll Electric and Entergy will resolve this issue soon, because our new prospective business deserves a clear answer to their questions regarding their electric service, and the City, Carroll County and the Berryville School District cannot afford to lose this new business,” McKinney said.

The Berryville City Council’s next regular meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20, at City Hall.