The Town of Lake Providence Board of Aldermen held their last regular meeting of the year last Thursday, and covered a lot of territory before heading into 2024.
Mayor Bobby Amacker told the board of aldermen that the town had mailed a certified check to the Internal Revenue Service to pay what it hopes will be the final past due payroll taxes from the administration of Former Mayor Jerry Bell, who served from 2019-2022.
The total amount paid was $25,500.05. The town owed $14,704.76 from the third quarter of 2020; $45.13 from the third quarter of 2021; $4,307.66 from the first quarter of 2022; $4,299.85 from the third quarter of 2022; $2,142.65 from the fourth quarter of 2022.
“I really hope this is the last installment. We have spent over $200,000 paying payroll taxes from previous years that were withheld from employee paychecks, but were not turned into the state and federal government agencies,” said Amacker.
The board approved the renewal of alcohol licenses for Jong’s Supervalu and Uncle Darrell’s Mini-Market. They also approved occupational licenses for N. Heiress & Co. and Chino Express.
The board approved a lease for the street department’s knuckle boom truck. The town will pay $4,000 a month for the truck per the terms of the lease. The mayor says that the town doesn’t want to own the truck, therefore every few years they will turn the truck in and get a new one.
The board passed a resolution to apply for Local Government Assistance Program funds in the amount of $35,000 to purchase vehicles for the maintenance department.
The board passed two resolutions to start the process of applying for forgivable loans for infrastructure repair. The first is through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Loan Program for $6,614,350 to rehabilitate the water system, and the second, to rehabilitate the sewer system, is through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund Loan Program for $9,489,350.
The board passed a resolution to apply for a community enrichment grant through the police jury for $170,000. The town applies for these funds annually through the police jury due to the fact that these are grants given to parishes to assist with their water systems. Because the town owns and operates a water system, but the local parish government does not, the town is eligible to apply through the jury.
