By Lee Weyhrich
For The Tribune
ARGO — The city of Argo still does not have a budget. During Monday’s regularly scheduled council meeting, the city council voted to extend the deadline for the budget another month. The new deadline is Feb. 18.
Mayor Betty Bradley said the extension was needed to further investigate the city’s finances. She added that all accounts from the previous administration had not been settled, and until those accounts were current, the city could not feasibly move forward with a new budget.
The city changed clerks in July, and settling the records for August and September have taken some additional time.
“As soon as she reconciles those months, we’ll be good to go,” Bradley said.
According to Bradley, the city had a difficult time specifically finding records pertaining to the disposal of surplus items. Surplus items are typically outdated or unused items the city owns that can be sold or auctioned.
The city hopes these items can be settled sooner, rather than later, and the council will have a better idea of their financial standard by the next meeting.
The council was also presented with the city’s annual worker’s compensation bill at the meeting. The payment will total $31,213, which is down more than $5,000 from last year. The payment may be made in a lump sum or can be made with monthly payments at 5.99 percent interest. The council voted to table the payment until the next meeting when they are better able to gauge the municipality’s financial situation.
In an attempt to increase the city’s funds, the council voted to contract with Revenue Discovery Systems to handle the collection of business licenses as well as the audit of companies that have not kept their licenses current. According to Bradley, RDS will charge the city $9.95 per license at an estimated cost to the city of $4,776. This fee includes audits, collection, as well as first, second and third notices which should pose a considerable savings in time and money versus the current system.
The council also finalized the resolution to allow Alabama Department of Revenue to collect Sales Tax as well as Rental Tax for the city.
