Eureka Springs City Council’s meeting opened on Monday, Feb. 24 with a State of the City address from Mayor Butch Berry. Berry began, voicing his thoughts on how fortunate the city was to have public servants in the form of commissioners, and employees before moving into shown graphics and statistics.
Berry showed several graphs of year-to-year sales tax revenue collected by the city, highlighting both the increase of sales tax revenue in 2023-24 with $3,271,550 in 2023 to $3,377,921.81 and overall growth from 2016 to 2024, $2.1 million in sales tax in 2016 to $3.3 million in 2024.
Berry also showed a breakdown of sales tax by month from the years 2019, and 2021 – 2024, not showing 2020 due to the pandemic’s shutdown effect on city revenue.
Of the four most expensive city budgets being Police, Fire & EMS, Water/Sewer, and Transit departments, ESPD came in 10 percent under budget for 2024. Fire Department was 1 percent over budget, Water and Sewer came in 24 percent over budget, and Transit was 12 percent under budget. Overall revenue compared to last year 2 percent under budget while expenses were 2 percent over budget. Berry applauded Finance Director Michael Akins for giving departments heads their monthly reports in a timely manner so they could alter expenses to fit better within budget over the course year.
Public Works has implemented a 5-year capital improvement plan centered around the repair and improvement of the sewer treatment plant. Berry gave an update on the roundabout at the intersection of 23S and US 62, saying that they are in final design. He also mentioned that the sewer department received a $6.2 million loan to repair the wastewater treatment facility. Maintenance in the past had been kicked down the road and he said hoped the upcoming repairs would allow the facility to “be good another 25 years with normal maintenance.”
The City Advertising and Promotion Commission revenue saw a drop from 2023 to 2024 from $1,971,220 in 2023 to $1,866,168 in 2024. Berry mentioned the swapping of advertising agencies in 2024, that Madden media was now promoting weddings and group travel more than Paradise Marketing had in previous years, and that Mike Maloney was hired as the CAPC director. In mentioning the Passport parking app there was an increase of use from 40,000 users in the city in 2023 to 52,000 users in 2024.
The city has received a $1.2 million federal loan to repair the Black Bass Dam. City is currently working on paperwork to receive bids on repair costs and Berry said that Congressman Steve Womack told him that the funds were still designated for the city despite other federal funding having been frozen by the newest president’s administration.
Berry also gave an overview of accomplishments by the HDC, Planning, Hospital, and Parks commissions and mentioned the repairs being currently done to Basin Park, and announced that City Attorney Forrest Jacobi has resigned effective March 4.
Water and Sewer price hike
Public Works Director Simon Wiley, in a short update on water and sewer, told aldermen that there would be a shift in pricing for water rates, where rates will be affected by the meter size. He said that for the typical household “It’s not a terrible increase” suggesting that it’d be around a $5 increase in cost per month. He explained that a new rate study would be complete and implemented in July and the increase would be implemented continue to comply with Act 605 which requires the water and sewer department to be self-sufficient and to pay off the $6.2 million federal loan.
When asked by aldermen if there were any other ways to fund the loan, Wiley pointed out that Act 605 restricts the water and sewer department from receiving funds from the city.
Other Items
- An appeal for a tree cut at 70 Clay St. was approved unanimously.
- Resolution 881 establishing a temporary Entertainment District for Spring Fling April 24 – 26 was approved. The ED will go from the intersection of Main and Benton Sts., to the Historical Museum, and then in front of Cathouse until Armstrong becomes one lane.
- In Public Comments, Ferguson Stewart asked for special recognition to Sandy Martin for her work as a commissioner and public servant.
- In other Public Comments, two former employees of the Eureka Springs Hospital asked why alleged harassment and toxic work environment that has caused employees to leave in exodus hasn’t been investigated. When aldermen asked if they could provide former employees with resources to have their complaints investigated, Berry told aldermen that the city, and more specifically hospital commissioners, were being sued by former employees of the hospital and that suit keeps aldermen from being able to make comment in public. In previous meetings, Berry told council that the only action they could take was to remove commissioners or dissolve it.