Denton Mayor Perry McNeill and rival Mark Burroughs are headed for a runoff after neither secured a majority of the vote in Saturday’s mayoral race. Two other candidates, businessman Justin Bell and college student Darac Favre, combined to receive about 12 percent of the 3,330 votes cast — preventing either McNeill or Burroughs from reaching 50 percent and extending a bruising campaign for an­other month.

 Denton Election Results

 Area Municipal Election Results

 Area School Board Election Results

 Special Election Results

ARGYLE — Voter turnout was robust at Argyle Town Hall, as residents reported receiving recorded messages for several candidates reminding them to vote Saturday morning.

Voters will decide city and school district races across Denton County today, including the hotly contested Denton mayoral race. Mayor Perry McNeill, a retired professor and engineer, is fighting for re-election against three challengers. They include former council member Mark Burroughs, a lawyer who has spent more than $45,000 to unseat the first-term incumbent.

 Polling sites, list of candidates

Voters will head to the polls Saturday to decide city and school district races across Denton County, including the hotly contested

 Polling places, list of candidates

Spirited races for mayor and three City Council seats drew 1,902 Denton residents to the polls for early voting. That’s 17 percent more voters than cast early ballots in 2006, the last election with a mayor’s race.

The last round of campaign finance reports before Saturday’s local election showed big spending in the town of Hickory Creek, in the Pilot Point school board race, and in Argyle school board and town elections, where a specific-purpose committee has upped the ante for Town Council incumbents. Individually, the area’s biggest spender so far is Charles Read, candidate for the Hickory Creek Town Council. He reported spending $6,092.

Mark Burroughs

Denton mayoral candidate Mark Burroughs is questioning the legality of a recent mailer that claims his campaign is awash in conflict-of-interest questions. The group that funded the mailer — led by local activist Bob Clifton — has not registered a campaign treasurer with the city secretary’s office. The state election code prevents political committees from spending or accepting more than $500 unless they file a campaign treasurer appointment.

HICKORY CREEK — Rumblings from residents living on the east side have gotten a little louder this year, especially now that both candidates vying for Place 4 on the Town Council come from the west side.

Term limits for Denton City Council members have created “institutional ignorance” in city leadership, a mayoral candidate said Monday. “It’s caused serious problems in this city,” Mark Burroughs, a former three-term council member, said during a candidate forum at Denia Recreation Center. “It creates institutional ignorance on council because you’re off after six years, and you’ve got all new faces trying to relearn [city business].”

The following are a representation of questions submitted by the public to candidates of the Denton City Council 2008 election. Candidates for the May 10^th election of the Denton City Council were asked to select at least five questions and provide respective answers.

OAK POINT — Residents formed a specific-purpose committee to support three candidates, hinting that last summer’s adoption of a resolution making English the official language of this small, lakeside community may still be in the undertow. Resident T. Jervis Underwood, treasurer for Visionary Citizens of Oak Point, said that the language resolution was not the only reason for the group’s formation, but it gave people a push.

Clovia English

CORINTH — The City Council has agreed to accept the city manager’s resignation and pay out her contract eight months before it ends. Clovia English signed a two-year contract, earning $120,000 per year, when she came to Corinth from Lockhart in November 2006. She leaves with a buyout package worth about 1 1/2 times her annual salary, which, according to council member Shannon Bryan, is consistent with other exit offers made to city managers.

Two Denton City Council candidates who serve on other local government bodies defended themselves Thursday after skipping meetings on key issues this week. Mayoral candidate Mark Burroughs, vice chairman of the Denton County Transportation Authority, missed the board’s vote Thursday on an environmental impact study for the planned commuter rail.

SANGER — Even though two of the three incumbents face challenges to their re-election bids, most of the candidates still think this spring’s race will be low-key. Growth has slowed here, as it has in much of Denton County, just as the city implemented a new comprehensive plan. City leaders hope the new plan will encourage construction of more mid-priced and high-end homes.

An attorney for Mike Sutton, a City Council District 5 candidate, has asked the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth to direct the city of Denton to remove his opponent’s name from the ballot. And that court issued an order Friday that Mayor Pro Tem Pete Kamp, who is running for the District 5 at-large seat, should file a response by 5 p.m. Tuesday showing why she should be left on the ballot.

ARGYLE — Local developers have formed a special committee to support one incumbent and two challengers in the Argyle Town Council race. Called the Argyle Concerned Citizens for Change, the specific-purpose committee was formed to support the candidacies of Joey Hasty, Dona Schroetke and Place 5 incumbent Joe Phelps.

  Candidate profiles, Survey Q&A, Voting history

A district judge expressed doubt Monday over Denton Mayor Perry McNeill’s and Mayor Pro Tem Pete Kamp’s eligibility to run in the May 10 election. Visiting Judge David Evans said he had a “hard time” accepting Denton city attorneys’ argument that City Council members could bypass term limits by running for different seats, as McNeill and Kamp are attempting.

Denton lawyer Mark Burroughs said his firm should continue collecting delinquent taxes for the city if he is elected mayor May 10, despite language in the firm’s contract that seems to discourage such an arrangement. Burroughs also said he would not object if the city chooses to renew the contract when it expires June 30, even though he said he turned down a chance to bid on the same job during his prior tenure on the City Council to avoid the perception of a conflict of interest.