Higher water bills ahead, mayor warns

Berryville residents could soon see an increase in water and sewer rates.

Tim McKinney

Mayor Tim McKinney addressed the matter during his remarks at a city council meeting on Aug. 16 at Berryville City Hall, saying an increase was a bit overdue.

“We were looking at a rate increase already,” McKinney said. “We haven’t raised our rates for several years with all this stuff going on, but with having to redo [the city’s water tank on Hailey Road] — they’re working on it right now — I’m just kind of warning you all that it looks like a water and sewer rate increase we’re going to have to have.”

McKinney went into greater detail regarding the situation at the water tank, which is already being addressed.

“ W e may have to do something on the water tank here pretty quick,” McKinney said. “The chlorine residual on top is not where they want it. We were trying to drain it down, but we found out that had their metering set so if it dropped two feet it started filling back up.

“They moved that down another five feet and we’re going to try it, but we’re still going to have to go ahead and probably service that tank about two years ahead of when we thought we were going to.”

In other business, the council heard from Berryville Police Chief Robert Bartos, who delivered his department’s monthly report.

According to Bartos, city police issued 78 citations in July, down from 117 a year ago, and investigated 73 offenses, up from last year’s monthly total of 61. The department’s clearance rate for the month, Bartos said, was 79 percent.

The department took in $190 in fines and bonds in July and responded to 18 traffic accidents, doubling the total from July 2021.

“People need to take a little backing practice,” McKinney said, noting that of the 18 traffic accidents, nearly a third listed “improper backing” as a contributing factor.

The council also reviewed the monthly financial report showing sales tax collected in the city during the month of July. According to the report, the city received $177,924.82 from the city’s 1 percent sales tax — up from the $162,708.70 received in July 2021, but down from last month’s total of $179,130.32 — and $88,962.41 from the city’s half-cent sales tax for the community center.

Of the tax money received from May sales, $130,349.12 was added to the city’s general fund, $17,000 to the sewer bond fund and $16,092.48 to the street fund. The remainder was divided between the Saunders Museum and the parks commission funds, which received $4,827.74 each, and the tourism and cemetery funds, which received $2,413.87 each.

As council members were reviewing the report, mayoral assistant Jay Lee pointed out that the city’s general fund — which listed a balance of $2,367,300.63 — was somewhat inflated, along with the street fund, which showed a balance of $796,084.96.

“We got our second tranche of money from the funds,” Lee said. “That’s what that extra revenue is in the general fund. You’ll see the general fund and street fund are pretty inflated as well.”

Lee said the funds are remaining on the books for the time being until the city can complete several projects it has in the works.

“Until we get some of these projects off the books and know, kind of, what we have in reserves, we’re letting those just ride and not investing into,” Lee said. “That way, we don’t potentially have to just turn right around and pull a CD back out.”

Council member Max Nichols said that made sense.

“I hate to lose that half a percent,” Nichols said.

McKinney said a good thing about keeping the ARPA funds handy is that it would help the city cover some extra expenses.

“The good thing about the ARPA money, in a roundabout way, is that it’s going to cover a lot of our cost overruns on the industrial park,” McKinney said.

The council’s next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 6, at Berryville City Hall.