City Council receives a commending report from audit

By Lauren Shortnacy
lshortnacy@campcountynow.com

The City Council of the City of Pittsburg held their annual meeting on Feb. 10 at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall. Among the many items on the agenda, the city’s audit was discussed and commended at the meeting.
“We found the accounting records of the City to be well maintained and accurate. The City has a very healthy balance sheet with good liquidity and limited debt for a city its size. The City had an overall increase net position of $377,000 for the year,” Leonard H. Acker CPA said.
Mr. Acker went on to say the staff working for the city should be commended and that the city’s financial statements are something to be proud of.
Mr. Acker explained during the audit he saw the city’s objective was to provide services they could provide with the resources they already had available.
He went on to say,  he enjoyed working with the people of Pittsburg and look forward to working with the council.
Along with the good report from the audit, the city also met with Russell Gallahan with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts on Hotel/Motel Tax.
 Mr. Gallahan went over the procedures the city’s what to do’s and dont’s when it comes to hotel/motel tax. A slideshow was presented to the council and public attending the meeting.
The slideshow showed the City of Pittsburg collects a local hotel occupancy tax at a rate of 7 percent.
Hotels in Pittsburg reported total receipts of $544,431 in the past year and reported taxable receipts of $510,865 in the past year.
That would leave the city collecting hotel occupancy taxes totaling nearly $36,000 per year.
Mr. Gallahan went on to say a city or county may impose a tax on a person who pays for a hotel room for the purpose of promoting tourism and the convention and the hotel industry.
The council was informed on who charges the taxes, tax rates, tax collections, exemptions, sales property, use of funds and more during the presentation.
After Mr. Gallahan’s presentation, the council approved a motion request from Habitat for Humanity to waive penalty and interest fees for 2011 taxes as well as considering the approval on proclaiming the month of April as Fair Housing Month.
The next item on the agenda had been tabled from the previous month. The consideration for approval on first reading an Ordinance concerning Outdoor Burning was brought back to the council to discuss, and seeing eye to eye was not unanimous.
City Manager, Clint Hardeman, said during the seasonal activity of burning, there had been many complaints and was asked to look into it.
“The City Council reviewed and approved the first reading on an outdoor burning ordinance. The outdoor burning ordinance adopted the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Regulations, Title 30, Tex. Admin. Code, 111.201-221, ‘Outdoor Burning Rule’,” Mr. Hardeman said.
 

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