The city of Pinson has seen quite a bit of growth lately, and that growth has led to benefits as well as expenses.
The City, like other state municipalities, received a large injection of funding from the State of Alabama’s Capital Trust Fund. Pinson generally receives between $50,000 and $70,000 from the state fund, however due to some restructuring of funds at the state level, the City received $150,000 this week.
“We did receive our Capital Trust Fund money,” Mayor Hoyt Sanders said. “We had known that there was going to be a makeup payment. We also knew that we had 1,000 more people in the city (since 2010).”
The money is earmarked by the state for capital improvements.
The Council used part of the money to make the final mortgage payment of $20,000 for the Civitan International property. During Pinson’s early days as a municipality, Civitan International allowed the City to use the building for just one dollar a year
. Once Pinson became more established , Civitan offered to sell the property to the city for $100,000. The loan was to be paid, interest free, over the course of seven years.
With all the new capital improvements, and the growth of the city footprint, the council has also expressed a need for a way to print plans for construction and zoning, as well as annexation. The Council voted to purchase a plotter for the zoning office. A plotter is a large-scale printer used to print such drawings. The plotter will cost less than $1,000, but a year’s service would cost roughly $1,150.
“Unfortunately (that amount) does not even include the ink,” Sanders said.
The mayor is exploring options for the service plan. Sanders added that with the growth Pinson had experienced, a plotter was an item the city could no longer do without in order to keep up-to-date records.
As if to punctuate the need for such a machine, three acres of rural land near Jackson Road, as well as property in the heart of the city were added, Thursday. The city voted to annex the Rite-Aide property as well as the adjacent parcels of land recently purchased by the city.
The adjacent property has all the utilities necessary for a restaurant, and the mayor and council are currently in talks over possible businesses for that site.
In other business, the Council also voted to purchase a new sound system for Rudd Middle school. The existing sound system was decades old, and no longer serviceable. The system will cost $2,144.
“This is equipment that will be used in the gym, but it is portable,” Councilwoman Dawn Tanner said. “It can be used in the cafeteria for assemblies, or even outside for field day or to announce games.”