Local News – Monday, August 24th, 2020
On Thursday evening the City of Salem Board of Aldermen held a Tax Rate Hearing followed by a special meeting as well as a Utility Committee meeting. The assessed valuation for the City of Salem for real estate in 2020 is $38,333,394 and that is down from last years totals. Personal property for 2020 came in at $10,767,977 and that is also down from 2019. The State Auditor’s calculation of revenue permitted for tax year 2020 is $334,114. There were no comments from the public in attendance. The board then went into a Special Meeting where they approved a bid from Ted’s Tile to replace tile and carpeting in the City Administration offices for a total of $19,410.83. This brings the total remodeling project over budget by just over $10,000. City Clerk Mary Happel then discussed the tax rates and last year the city had a rate of 65.22 cents per $100 assessed valuation. With the assessed valuation of real estate and personal property lower for 2020, the city was allowed to increase the tax rate to 67.26 cents per $100 assessed valuation and stay under the State Auditors required limitation of income. Happel read Bill #3459 to set the 2020 tax rate at 67.26 cents per $100 assessed valuation and the board approved the increase in the ordinance. Happel then read Bill #3461, a proposal between the City and BHMG for engineering services for the review of the AMI and Billing System implementation for $15,000. The board passed this bill. The board meeting was then adjourned.
An accident involving at ATV happened at 12:45 Friday morning in Texas County on Oscar Road about four miles south of Licking. According to the report released by the highway patrol, a Polaris ATV being driven by 39-year old Jordan Black of Licking. struck a deer in the roadway. The ATV then traveled off the left side of the road, ejecting a passenger, 36-year old Tiffany Breeden of Licking. Breeden was taken by air ambulance to Cox South in Springfield for treatment of serious injuries. Neither occupant was wearing safety devices at the time of the accident. The ATV was removed from the scene by the owner.
The Salem Police Department has released some reports for the 1st through the 3rd of August. On Saturday night, August 1st, at approximately 11:30 an officer was dispatched to Casey’s on Highway 32 for a report of property damage. It was reported that a subject had their tire slashed while they were at the bowling alley. The estimated value to replace the tire was $84. This incident is still under investigation. Then Sunday, August 2nd, at approximately 9:10 at night, an officer was dispatched to the lobby of the Salem Police Department for a report of a theft. It was reported that a female had left her wallet at Wal-Mart and it was turned in at the service desk. The female reported that when she retrieved it from the service desk, $200 in cash had been taken out of it. A subsequent investigation was conducted and as a result a 42-year-old Salem female was arrested and issued summons to appear in court for stealing. On Monday night the 3rd, at approximately 8:17 an officer was dispatched to the 700 block of Thomas Avenue for a report of a theft from a motor vehicle. It was reported that $310 worth of items were taken out of the reporting party’s truck while it was parked at his residence and he was out of town. This incident is still under investigation. If anyone has information on an ongoing investigation, please contact the Salem Police Department at 729-4242.
The City of Salem Board Utility Committee met Thursday night at the City Hall Council chambers. City Administrator Ray Walden provided an update on the AMI Project and Utility Billing. He reported the February-April bills were processed manually, but the June bills were processed using the AMI System and are in the mail. There are currently 400 water meters that still need to be installed. Staff is working with individual customers that have issues or questions with their bill, but he believes the system is currently working properly. The committee heard from Gina Erickson with Incode. She presented a demo of an online payment portal that will allow customers to set up auto pay, submit service requests and get additional information about their bills. Incode will waive the usual set up fees and there would be an annual maintenance charge of an estimated $1,300 per year. Erickson reported that additional city services like business licenses, pavilion rentals and code enforcement could be added to this software program. Kevin James, the Chairman of the Utility Committee, will call another meeting to get a full demo for this software. The committee discussed the current billing cycle as well as penalty dates and determined that there would be no changes at this time. There was some concern about customers who are not paying anything on their current bills. Since there is no penalty or shut offs happening, these customers are getting really behind on their bills. It is hoped these customers will get with the city to work on arranging a payment plan before the policies are re-instituted. The committee will recommend to the alderman to keep the “no penalty” and no shut off policy that is currently in place at this time. The meeting was then adjourned.