Arrearage climbs to $182,628
Although local COVID-19 hospitalizations are trending downward, Sulphur Springs City Manager Marc Maxwell held off on proposing a catchup program to collect the $182,628 owed to the city, but he suggested it was likely to come to the city council in April.
“I told you [the council] that regarding our arrearage issue that I would be coming to you this month if we continued to see declines in the total number of active cases,” Maxwell said at the March city council meeting Tuesday night. “We did not. We probably will soon.”
The total arrearage is owed across 730 accounts and has increased since February when it was $153,906 across 601 accounts.
Maxwell also reported the framing and plumbing top-out on the Grays Building are finished, and insulation will be installed next week. Brick and sheetrock will not be far behind that.
After a few months of working with the architect for the Senior Citizens Building, Maxwell reported drawings should be available in the next 60 days.
Woodlawn Street has been cement-stabilized, and it will be paved with asphalt early next week.
The next big capital improvement project, the new Saputo sewer main, has made little progress due to inclement weather. The $750,000 project is funded entirely through a Texas Department of Agriculture grant.
College Street will be completely rebuilt after the Saputo project finishes, and Maxwell reported 15,000 tons of concrete have been crushed to provided less expensive materials for the project.
Finance director Lesa Smith reported city departments are in good shape financially, and the sales tax revenue has increased over the previous year.
“Our sales tax is up 7.01% compared to last year,” Smith said. “That’s an increase of over $133,000 compared to this same time last year.”
Smith also detailed the cost impact Winter Storm Uri had on the city. City staff worked 700 hours of overtime for a total of $18,000. Smith said the city could apply to have costs reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but only emergency disaster costs would be covered.
At the end of the meeting, mayor John Sellers praised city staff for their work during the storm.
“During our winter event, they were on top of things,” Sellers said. “They were working trying to keep our best interests and taking care of our water needs.”