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Providence Council creates city improvement 'action plans,' mission statement By
Roy Burton PROVIDENCE -- The City Council discussed improvement issues, granting impact fee waivers, and the city's finances Tuesday. Councilman Vic Saunders gave council members assignments to create "action plans" related to city improvement. A "Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats" meeting held April 30 with members of the community provided the impetus and the specific areas for the council to seek improvement. The categories of personnel, planning and zoning, parks and recreation, public safety, community involvement, administration, streets, and water were targeted to be reviewed and have action plans in place by the first council meeting in January, 2003. Saunders said in the past the council had been criticized for talking about improvements and not acting to make them happen. "We're not going to solve the world's problems here, but what we are going to do is come up with a basic mission statement of what we can do as a city," he said. In other business, a representative of Stadium 8, the movie theater complex set to open Dec. 13 in Providence, asked council members to make impact fees "go away." An impact fee is a fee the city charges to recuperate its expenses in providing services such as water hook-ups and power lines, said Mayor Leonhardt. Bret Peterson said he is not asking the city to give something for nothing, because the sales tax that goes to the city in the first year alone would be approximately equal to the impact fee. Saunders said he fears opening "Pandora's box," and that the council should be very cautious in allowing impact fees to be waived because it could lead to existing and incoming businesses asking for the same fee waiver. Peterson said the theater projects first year revenue to total between $3 million and $5 million. The city's portion of the sales taxes on ticket sales alone would total $30,000 or more in the first year, allowing the city to recover its expense, he said. Council members Dennis Nelson, Wendy Simmons and Saunders thought a rebate would be a better option than an outright waiver, and said they will continue to discuss the issue at future council meetings. The city also received its 2001/2002 annual financial statements audit report, with certified public accountant firm Peterson Allred Jackson representatives congratulating the city on staying under budget in all departments during the fiscal year. The CPA firm reported that the city's net assets had increased 7.6 percent from last year. The city's total net assets were $9,543,544. The council also voted unanimously to grant a petition for annexation to Bill Bertolio at 400 West 500 South.
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