Greene County Democrat

Tag: Love’s Travel Center

  • Eutaw City Council receives reports on finances, sales tax collection and Water Department

    At its regular meeting on November 23, 2021, the Eutaw City Council received reports in its budget, bank accounts, sales tax collections and the Water Department.

    Two Council members were absent – LaJeffrey Carpenter and Tracy Hunter – but a quorum was present which allowed the meeting to proceed.

    Based on recommendations from their Financial Adviser, Ralph Liverman, the Council reviewed and approved several bank resolutions to close several certificates of deposit and place checking accounts into money market accounts, which will earn interest on surplus funds on deposit in these bank accounts.

    Liverman also presented a detailed report on the opening balances in all city banking and operational accounts as of the start of the fiscal year on October 1, 2021.

    The most interesting report that Liverman furnished was a record of sales tax and motor fuel revenues received by the City of Eutaw over the past three fiscal years, which shows the impact of the Love’s Travel Center in significantly increasing the tax revenues paid to the City of Eutaw.

    A chart summarizing this information is included in this news report. The chart shows revenues for the three fiscal years, FY2018-2019, which was the year before Love’s opened for business, FY 2019-2020, which includes the first eleven months of Love’s operation and FY 2020-2021, which includes a full year of the truck stop and travel center operations.

    The chart shows an increase of sales taxes from $530,962 before Love’s, to $772,756 for last year, which was a full year of operation for the travel center. This is an increase of $ 241,794 or 31%

    The fuel tax increase, which is based on 3 cents per gallon, increased from $54,798 to $472,377, which is an astounding increase of
    $ 417,574 or 762%.

    Overall sales tax and motor fuel revenues increased from $692,730 to $1,515,045, which was an increase of $822,315 or 119%. On a monthly basis this represents $126,253 in tax revenues added to the city budget.

    Note that the total sales tax rate in Greene County is 10% of which 3% goes to the municipality, in this case the City of Eutaw; 3% to the County Commission, and 4% to the State of Alabama. So, the county government and State of Alabama are receiving similar increases in revenues, to those received by the City of Eutaw.

    It should also be noted that much of the increase in tax revenues which is attributed to the Love’s Travel Center were from people traveling through Greene County on Interstate 20/59, not from residents of the city or the county.

    The Eutaw Water Department reported continuing progress in collections and reducing water losses. The City collected over $75,000 in water revenues for November 2021, which was about double what had been collected in previous years. There are 1,461 customers, with 12 new customers of which 9 were customers found, who previously had not been billed. There are still 534 accounts with $63,469 past due and receivable, some of which are under payment agreements.

    In other actions, the Eutaw City Council:

    • Did not approve, November 24, the day before Thanksgiving for a full day paid vacation for employees. They left this benefit at a half day.

    • Approved changes in the right-of-way for utilities and access to Raintree Apartments LLC and a similar adjustment for Rollingwoods Apartments.

    • Heard reports from the City Engineer and Chief of Police.

    • Agreed to pay bills for November 2021.

  • Eutaw City Council acts on financial and budgetary matters before start of new fiscal year on October 1

    In its regular meeting on Tuesday, September 28, 2021, the Eutaw City Council dealt with financial and budgetary matters prior to the beginning of a new fiscal year, later this week on October 1, 2021.

    The Council approved recommendations from the Mayor for raises for city personnel other than the Police Department, which had received raises in a prior meeting.

    “When we raised the police salaries, you asked me to evaluate the rest of the staff, street, water and other workers, I have now done this and recommended raises in the range of 50 cents to a dollar an hour for the staff. I also consulted Mr. Liverman, our financial consultant, who agreed that funds were available to cover the cost of these raises which will begin with the first pay period in the new year,” said Mayor Latasha Johnson.

    Financial advisor, Ralph Liverman, presented the council members with a new draft budget for the coming year, which he said he was still revising.
    Liverman said, “We have increased revenues for the coming year, based on
    higher sales and gas tax payments made by Love’s Travel Center, which has really helped us. We are also receiving about $50,000 a month in receipts from electronic bingo. We also increased revenues in the Water Department due to better management and collections. I expect we will have $5 million in revenues to work with in the coming fiscal year.”

    Liverman explained that the City had set up the proper accounts in Citizens Trust Bank for the water improvement project loan from USDA Rural Development. We are now making required monthly deposits in our loan payment account and two reserve accounts for maintenance and repairs on the system. The City has also established a Water Tank Maintenance Account, to have funds available for tank repairs and have ended a contract with a company for tank maintenance.

    Liverman also said he had sent a copy of the proposed budget to BBI, the software company which is setting up the city’s new financial system, which will be used to prepare financial statements and reports comparing expenditures to the budget in the coming year.

    The City Council approved a contract with STATERA Consulting, a Human Resource (HR) firm, for $3,500, to review and revise the City’s Personnel Policy Handbook, which requires updating and clarifications. The representative of the company, on a video connection said that he would “make realistic and practical recommendations for changes and improvements to the policies and compliance.”

    City Attorney Zane Willingham presented the City Council with a memorandum on legal steps they will need to take to deal with overgrown properties and charge the costs to the owners. Willingham suggested that council members prepare a list of problem properties in their districts so that
    they could be acted upon together.

    The Council received a request from Mercy and Grace to purchase 4.5 acres of land on Boligee Street, where the swimming pool was previously located, to build an Assisted Living facility for the elderly. Attorney Willingham advised that the Council would need to approve a resolution that the land was not needed for public use before it could be sold. The Council tabled the sale until the resolution could be prepared for the next meeting.

    In other actions, the Eutaw City Council:

    • Opened bids for the sale of surplus property, including trucks, cars, a van and equipment. The Council accepted some of the bids and rejected others. A full report is on the City’s website.

    • Approved purchasing identification badges for all city employees, including council members.

    • Approved observing October 11, 2021 as Branch & Gilmore Local Holiday, in place of Columbus Day for all city employees.

    • Approved request from Girl Scout Troop 408, Greene County Human Rights Commission and Greene County Health Advisers to use City Park on October 6, 2021 for their annual run/walk to promote cancer awareness.

    • Approved request from Greene County PARA for use of the City Park on November 6, 2021 for a Commu8nity-wide Fall Festival.

    • Approved resolution to declare certain water fund accounts as bad debts and uncollectible, to clear records for the new fiscal year.

    • Approved payment of monthly bills.

    • Announced National Night Out, for police community relations, will be held October 21, 2021 at the R. H. Young Community Center.