City asks for increase on tax levy
Juliette Beaulieu/Managing Editor
Issue date: 12/5/07 Section: News
|
The ordinance sets out the amount of money the city will need during the year. The county will set the tax rate based on the levy after assessing all properties.
The city is asking for $3,021,210, although Charleston Mayor John Inyart said it will probably receive less than that because of the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law. PTELL limits property tax increases for non-home rule tax districts such as Charleston.
Last year, the city asked for $2,771,650. The increased amount this year is intended to cover new construction, Inyart said.
The council also approved a resolution to borrow $119,066.95 from First Neighbor Bank to purchase a new ambulance for the Charleston Fire Department. The city will put the new ambulance into service immediately, Inyart said.
It also passed a resolution to sell the city's old ambulance, which has been in use since 1999 and has 170,00 miles on it.
"It was in the fleet plan to be replaced," Inyart said.
Charleston has a fleet of four ambulances, which are replaced about every eight years on a staggered schedule. The old ambulance will be sold by sealed bid.
City Manager Scott Smith reported that a construction project to improve access to Lincoln Avenue from the Fire Department building should be finished by Dec. 25. The Fire Department is located at Lincoln Avenue and Division Street behind McDonalds.
The fire trucks and ambulances currently use A Street to get to Lincoln, but if a lot of traffic is on Lincoln, the truck or ambulance has to wait for traffic to clear to turn.
"It's a bottleneck," Smith said.
The new project adds a driveway from the Fire Department building onto Division. The intersection of Lincoln and Division will receive a traffic control device to allow the light to be changed from the Fire Department, eliminating the need for trucks to wait.
Lincoln and Division is the only intersection in Charleston with an emergency control device.
"We hope to, over time, roll that out to more locations," Smith said.
The wireless system used for the devices is very expensive, he said.
In other news, the city is looking into the cost of doing a partial census in the spring.
To get the best possible count, the city would do the census when students are in town, Smith said.
Also at the meeting, the subdivision of a lot owned by Wal-Mart was approved. Murphy Oil is located on the lot at the intersection of Illinois Route 16 and Hawthorne Drive, and the new subdivision divides the lot between the two businesses.
The council also voted to reimburse the Charleston Tourism Advisory Board for $1,500 in expenses from the Christmas in the Heart of Charleston event Dec. 1.
"A nice evening; a little breezy, but nicely done," Inyart said of the festivities.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Annie Cross, of Charleston, asked that the council allow the public to comment before voting at meetings.
"Public comments taken before (voting) seems to be more in keeping with … our form of government," Cross said.
She also took issue with housing in the "Historic Corridor" of Charleston being converted to student housing, and large apartment complexes being built there.
All items are placed on file for public inspection before the council votes on them, Inyart said after the meeting.
Opinions Editor Graham Milldrum contributed to this report.
Correction: An article on page one of Tuesday's DEN reported that the city's old ambulance had 110,921 miles on it. That number was from February 2006, and the ambulance has been in use since then. It has 170,000 miles on it currently.
The Daily Eastern News encourages on-topic, civil discussion on its articles posted online. It is our policy not to screen comments before they are posted or edit them after they are posted. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are off-topic, malicious, libelous or include excessive foul language. The DEN also reserves the right to turn off all comments on any story it deems necessary.
Comments violating copyright law will also be removed.
Users who repeatedly violate this policy will be banned from commenting.
If you have any questions on our comment policy or wish to report a comment that you feel violates these standards, please e-mail a link to the article to our Online Editor at DENNews.com@gmail.com.
Be the first to comment on this story