By Terry Schrimscher
CLAY — The Clay City Council met for the first regular meeting of the month on Tuesday night, February 13, at City Hall. There were no petitions or hearings and the Council moved quickly through the short agenda in a short meeting which consisted only of reports from members of the Council and City Manager Ronnie Dixon.
In the fall of 2022, the Council approved a two-cent reduction in grocery sales taxes. Dixon updated the Council on the impact of that reduction as inflation has further reduced the buying power of citizens nationwide.
“I told you about a year ago that when we reduced the taxes we would expect to see a downfall when people didn’t have any more money,” Dixon said. “The food went up, so we collected more taxes but when they didn’t have enough money to buy food then the tax income would go down,” he added.
“That started in January. January over January, we were down over $20,000 just out of Publix. Nationally, inflation has caught up to Clay. Rather than people having $100 to spend on groceries, they’ve only got $80 to spend. So, we’re starting to see that,” he said.
“We’ve already put enough measures in place to make sure it doesn’t affect our budget,” Dixon said. “We’re in good shape to keep doing what we’re doing.”
Dixon said the city has made a lot of repairs and patches to the pavement in the neighborhood, but it has reached the point where it needs to be resurfaced.
“It’s a little bit bigger than Twin Lakes, so it’s going to be in the $120,000 range,” Dixon said. “I haven’t gotten the actual proposal yet but based on what we paid for Twin Lakes. There’s nothing else to patch,” he added.
“That will wipe out our paving budget and our 10-cent gas tax money,” Dixon said. “That will wipe that out doing that subdivision. All we will have left is our patching money.”
Dixon also discussed a future action on a home that must be demolished for health reasons and then proceeded to inform the Council about a paving project in the Waynesboro neighborhood.
In his report, Dixon said the city granted $30,000 to the Clay Chalkville High School band for a trip to Orlando in March. He said the funds would reduce the amount each student needed to raise for the trip and said it was similar in the amount granted to the football team.
He updated the Council on the Boys and Girls Club of Central Alabama banquet and announced the organization will also be hosting a golf tournament at Bent Brook golf course in Bessemer.
The next meeting of the Clay City Council is scheduled for 6 p.m. on February 27, 2024 at City Hall.