Voters ousted Denton Mayor Perry McNeill on Saturday, handing the city’s top elected position to rival Mark Burroughs.

Denton Record-Chronicle/Barron Ludlum

Mayoral candidate Mark Burroughs gets a congratulatory hug from council member Pete Kamp after hearing early voting results Saturday night. His daughter, Madeline, smiles in the background.

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Burroughs won decisively with 62 percent of the vote, capping an unusually costly and bitter race between two former City Council colleagues.

“I’m just so pleased and so proud,” Burroughs said. “I hope that I live up to the trust that’s been placed in me today. I’ll try very hard to do so.”

McNeill, 72, a retired professor and engineer, is the first Denton mayor to lose a re-election bid in nearly two decades.

“The people have spoken,” he said. “I guess I’m going to have a little more free time.”

Burroughs, 50, a lawyer, will take his oath of office at the end of Tuesday’s council meeting.

McNeill said he would offer his help to ease the transition. He also urged residents to unite after a long and contentious election.

Burroughs said he was eager to get to work studying ways the city can better manage its rapid growth and involve residents in decision-making. He previously served on the council from 1998 to 2004.

“I want to make sure we create a city that is protective of the neighborhoods while welcoming the advantages that this growth we are seeing right now can provide,” he said. “It’s a challenge, and it takes energy and it takes creativity. But that’s why I ran.”

Burroughs earned the most votes in a four-man race May 10 but fell short of the majority needed to avoid a runoff. Businessman Justin Bell and college student Darac Favre, the third- and fourth-place finishers, did not endorse anyone in Saturday’s election.

Burroughs campaigned as the candidate who could best guide the council after two years of what he called limited progress under McNeill. He also criticized the mayor’s leadership on several issues, including the proposed Fry Street development, the 2006 charter changes and ongoing revisions to the city’s property maintenance rules.

Perry McNeill

McNeill campaigned on his record, saying the city had made great strides on many issues during his term, including property maintenance, economic development, public safety and environmental protection.

But lawsuits, cries of unfair campaign tactics and other spats often overshadowed the candidates’ policy differences.

McNeill, Burroughs and council member Pete Kamp survived efforts to strike their names from the ballot for alleged violations of the city’s term limits. A state district judge allowed the candidates to remain on the ballot but did not dismiss a lawsuit challenging their eligibility to serve. A hearing on the suit is set for August.

Burroughs also faced questions over potential conflicts of interest. His law firm, Sawko & Burroughs, collects delinquent taxes for many local governments, including the city of Denton. Burroughs has repeatedly said the contracts aren’t a conflict because his firm’s payments come from fees levied on taxpayers’ past-due amounts, not from government coffers.

Local activist Bob Clifton distributed several mailers criticizing Burroughs’ government contracts and level of spending on the race. Together, Burroughs and McNeill spent nearly $84,000 on their campaigns, with Burroughs’ spending accounting for more than 60 percent of the total.

Last month, Burroughs sued in an attempt to stop Clifton’s mailers, arguing that Clifton was violating state law by not disclosing who was funding them.

Clifton denied wrongdoing but faces a possible contempt-of-court ruling after he failed to meet a court-ordered deadline Tuesday to turn over his financial records.

McNeill also faced controversies, including over whether his mailers exaggerated his accomplishments and included names of people who weren’t supporting his candidacy.

The mayor also drew fire for an automated phone survey that critics called a thinly veiled attack on Burroughs. The survey, which did not identify its source, asked respondents whether having a “part-time mayor” or one who collected overdue taxes from “struggling” families and businesses would bother them.

McNeill, who campaigned as a “full-time mayor,” admitted funding the survey but said he was simply trying to measure public opinion.

The candidates had hoped for a healthy turnout Saturday, based on higher-than-expected early voting numbers. More than 2,400 voters cast early ballots in Saturday’s contest — roughly 73 percent of the total turnout for the May 10 election.

On Saturday, 1,384 voters cast ballots. The total turnout for the runoff represents about 7 percent of Denton’s 55,289 registered voters.

The loss marks the end of McNeill’s seven-year stint on the council. Before becoming mayor in 2006, he served five years as the council member for District 4 in southwest Denton.

“It’s been a good experience for me, and I’ve enjoyed it,” McNeill said. “We’ve made some very positive changes since I’ve been in office.”

The last time voters ousted an incumbent mayor was in 1990, when political newcomer Bob Castleberry unseated Ray Stephens by pledging to reverse the city’s so-called “anti-business” reputation.

A Burroughs-McNeill contest almost happened two years ago, as both men expressed interest in a mayoral bid. But Burroughs never filed for the chance to succeed three-term Mayor Euline Brock. Brock backed Burroughs in Saturday’s race after supporting McNeill in 2006.

Burroughs serves on the Denton County Transportation Authority board of directors and leads a council-appointed committee that oversees voter-approved bond projects. He is also vice chairman of the Denton Chamber of Commerce and president of the Greater Denton Arts Council.

LOWELL BROWN can be reached at 940-566-6882. His e-mail address is lmbrown@dentonrc.com.