The city of Danielsville plans to increase its beer and wine license fees to bring the town more in line with surrounding municipalities.
The council plans to increase fees from the current $350 per year for a license that covers both beer and wine to $500 each, or a $1,000 annual fee for both a beer and wine license. Mayor Todd Higdon said the city’s license fee was the lowest of any surrounding municipality except for the county’s license fee.
The council will vote on the measure at a special called meeting just prior to their monthly work session Oct. 8, Oct. 29. The increase, if approved, will take effect in 2013. The city currently receives approximately $1,750 in annual beer/wine license revenue. The new license fees will increase that revenue to approximately $5,000.
The council also discussed the city’s new accounting software, which city clerk Susan Payne said will make utility billing and accounting simpler and more accurate, once the “kinks” of the new system are worked out.
Payne said some of the new things the software will be able to do include emailing utility bills, payment auto-drafts and the eventually the ability to pay online.
“We’re moving into the 21st century,” Payne joked to the council.
She acknowledged that putting the utility billing in place on the new software had been “a task,” and as result, utility bills went out later than usual on Oct. 5, instead of the first day of the month, as is customary. Payne encouraged citizens to call with questions or to report errors on their bills.
“Once we get past this first month we’ll be fine,” she said. This month’s utility bills also included the water and sewer rate increases the council approved recently.
The council received a copy of the monthly police department report and Mayor Todd Higdon noted that there were 66 traffic tickets on the city’s court docket for September and that 75 percent of those were given to motorists going 30 mph over the designated speed limits and that the remaining 25 percent were 20 mph over the speed limit. Higdon estimated that at least 1,500 vehicles pass through town each day, making the police department average less than two tickets per day. “With that many people going through town, I don’t think anyone can say they (police department) are picking are picking on them. And when they’re going over 30 mph I know we’re not picking on them,” Higdon said.
In other business, the council heard the first reading of a change in the city’s spending policy that will implement purchase orders that will help staff better track expenses.
ROUNDABOUT WORK
The council heard that striping and signage for the state’s changes to the courthouse roundabout would begin Friday, Oct. 12. The Department of Transportation originally planned to begin the project, which will grant right-of-way to the roundabout, on Monday, Oct. 8.
Higdon said last week that the changes will include replacing stop signs on Crawford W. Long and Madison Streets with yield signs; removing the current four crosswalks, which are located in the curves, and replacing them with a crosswalk at the north and south sides of the courthouse that will encompass the concrete islands. Yield signs on the roundabout will be moved to reflect the change in right of way.
Higdon said state DOT officials estimate the change will decrease traffic back ups to the red light in the mornings by 35 percent.
FALL FESTIVAL
Higdon reported that festival plans are moving forward and that more volunteers are needed. He said those interesting in helping out with the two-day festival on Oct. 27 and 28 should call festival coordinator Angela Herring at 706-612-7856 or email her at angeladvillefallfestival@gmail.com.
