Barling residents can expect to pay more for sanitation services if a proposed ordinance passes.

The Barling Board of Directors approved a proposed sanitation rate increase during its meeting Tuesday. In a memo addressed to the board, City Administrator Mike Tanner attached a new sanitation rate increase from the Fort Smith Sanitation Department Landfill that was effective Jan. 1. Tanner said the increase is $3 per ton, which brings it to $33 per ton plus an Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality fee of $2.50 and a Sebastian County Regional Solid Waste Management District fee of $1.70 per ton. The total per ton is $37.20 from $34.20 per ton, which is an 8.77 percent increase.

Barling's current sanitation rate is $15.50 a month, and an 8.77 percent increase would raise it to $16.8596. With increases in maintenance and repairs, Tanner said Barling should increase the rate to $17 per month for residential customers.

After the meeting, Tanner said an ordinance with the approved rate increase will be written, and the board of directors will have to pass it for it to go into effect.

The board also approved a resolution governing the management of Barling's public funds. The resolution states the board authorizes certain Barling employees to sign checks and other official banking instruments, a memo from Tanner states. After some discussion by the board, the approved employees were the city administrator, the public works director, the city clerk and the mayor.

The next Barling Board of Directors meeting will take place Jan. 22.