MEEKER | A change in sales tax regulations could prove beneficial to town coffers. As of Dec. 1, retailers who deliver or ship goods are now required to collect sales tax at the rate effective for the customer’s address. Given the amount of goods ordered online and shipped, that should boost sales tax revenue for local municipalities, but may prove challenging for local retailers who ship goods out of the area.
“It’s going to be pretty overwhelming for us for a while,” said interim town administrator Lisa Cook regarding the logistics of the change. “Hopefully we’ll have a gain.”
“It does level the playing field,” Trustee Wendy Gutierrez commented.
In the last meeting of the calendar year for the board, trustees approved final settlements for Phase 1 of the water project.
Trustee Travis Day said he felt the consultant, Olsson Associates, was “getting off easy” because the clean-up part of the project wasn’t finished. In order to guarantee completion of the project before the grant deadline, the town’s public works department agreed fo finish the last details.
“If that piece of the project was still hanging out there, we wouldn’t get the final payment on the grant,” Cook said. “In light of what we’re due from DOLA and in light of what this cost, we just wanted to put this to bed, but Travis is right.”
Trustees also approved a final settlement with Belland Builders to the tune of $44,924 for the Town Hall window replacement project.
The board also approved the 2019 budget at $5,711,080 for the general fund; $2,914,945 for the water fund; and $250,000 for the newly established abatement fund to be used for clean-up and code enforcement.
For the second year in a row, the town will collect its full property tax mill levy of 9.781 mills for an estimated $208,378. The amount of property tax collected by Meeker and Rangely combined equals about 1 percent of the total collected by Rio Blanco County.
The board heard from Beverly Prosence and Annie Long regarding reimbursement for six trees at the Findlay Trailer Court on Water Street they allege were poisoned by pesticides sprayed by the twon in 2012. Prosence had the trees tested by the State of Colorado in 2012, but did not receive results from those tests back until 2018. According to a letter Prosence submitted, the town refused to remove the dead trees in 2014, stating they could not do work on private property, thus requiring the property owners to remove the trees themselves.
The letter asks the town to provide for the loss of the trees ($6,000), removal of the trees ($1,450) and replacing the trees ($1,200). In addition, there are concerns about a town-owned gravel pile next door to the property which is a problem because of blowing dirt and gravel, as well as being used by local children to play on.
Mayor Regas Halandras said the letter and accompanying information was the first the board had heard about the problem in the last six years and agreed to review the situation and add it to the Jan. 2 agenda.
Use of Ute Park for a family-friendly event sponsored by the White River Snowmobile Club in January will also be on the Jan. 2 agenda. The club held the event two years ago, and would like to host it again, weather permitting. Representative Shane Pfeiffer said he would provide details for the event for board approval by Jan. 2.
In other business, trustees approved:
– An ordinance amending the town code regarding tobacco use regulations, adding language about electronic cigarettes, or vaping.
– An ordinance to establish a policy for the Town of Meeker to dispose of “personal identifying data” and creating an information security policy for employees, to comply with Colorado House Bill 18-1128.
The town offices will be open half-days on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
By NIKI TURNER | [email protected]
