Bellefontaine’s income tax receipts for the first half of the year are nearly equal to year-to-date totals from 2015 even though several businesses have put off filing annual returns.
“It leads me,” City Auditor Jack Reser told the Bellefontaine City Council Finance Committee, “to believe business is improving.”
Individual annual filings are about the same, he said, while withholding is up, another sign of economic improvement.
Mr. Reser provided a brief update of the city’s revenues and expenditures.
On the expenditure side, city departments are, for the most part, spending as predicted in the annual budget.
Some departments have seen unexpected expenditures and there will be about $150,000 in retire payouts this year across several departments.
Those payouts, Mr. Reser said, were not in the annual budget.
In regular action, council members approved on first and final readings ordinances to:
• seek bids for an estimated $145,000 bridge replacement project on High Avenue along Mary Rutan Park; and
• accept a $511,000 bid to replace a 12-inch water main along Main Street between Spring and Fair avenues. The bid was more than 10 percent higher than City Engineer Tim Notestine’s estimates of $425,000 because of unforeseen material costs.
The Utilities Committee will meet at 8 a.m. July 22 to continue discussion of rates. It will be in Council Chambers.
The next regular meeting of the council is 7:30 p.m. July 26.