City Sales Tax Revenue Drops .

City general 1% sales tax receipts reported a drop of 13.58% in March. Overall for the year to date the City has seen a 3.29% drop compared to last fiscal year.

The 1/2% transportation tax fared some better, but still showed an 11.89% drop as compared to last year’s monthly number. For the year, the transportation tax is down by 4.67%.

City officials note that there can be large swings from month to month. Some of the irregularity comes from some businesses paying sales tax on a quarterly basis, or reporting late for a particular month. This was the worst drop seen this year so far, and some months actually showed an increase.

Last October and November were the worst two consecutive months for the City with the October report being down 10.42% and November down 11.05%.

Reports typically reflect the previous month’s receipts.

In July and August, the first two months of the City fiscal year, receipts were up 5.65% and 9.06% respectively.

Whenever I find a conversation goin’ to far in talkin’ ‘bout the "good ol’ days" I always bring up the topic of cookstoves and outhouses. That will usually bring folks back to their senses. Although there are prob’ly a lot of good stories about these particular articles of fascination, most I’ve talked to don’t want to go back quite that far.

Wood cookstoves have some charm for sure, but havin’ ta get up and stoke the fire on a cold mornin’ usually isn’t a fond memory (unless someone else did the stokin’).

Outhouses are always a good conversation generator. Cold mornin’s and hot summer days seem to be the most mentioned rememberances I hear. Thunder buckets don’t seem ta be much missed either. A simpler time maybe, but not without a price.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

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THIS IS A HAMMER

By Samantha Mazzotta

Q: Every so often you talk about using a multimeter to check for electrical problems. How does one properly use a multimeter? -- Haley in Huntsville, Ala.

A: A multimeter -- a rectangular handheld device featuring testing probes, a switch and an indicator needle or digital readout -- can diagnose problems with electrical devices by measuring whether current is flowing properly through the device, and if so, how much current is flowing.

Do-it-yourselfers with little or no electrical training should limit their diagnostics to the first type of test -- measuring whether current is flowing properly (known as measuring resistance).

They should not attempt the second type of test (known as measuring voltage), which requires power to be on during the test.

To test for resistance, make sure NO electrical current is present in the device you’re measuring. Unplug it or switch off power at the circuit panel.

Set the multimeter to the _ (ohm) setting. If there is more than one ohm setting on the switch, choose X1. You’ll see the indicator needle move to the infinity level. If you touch the probe needles together at this point, you should see the indicator or readout move to zero. This means the multimeter has continuity.

Testing for resistance means the multimeter sends a very small amount of current through the circuit. If the circuit works properly, the multimeter returns a reading of zero. A circuit that is not closed will not allow that current to flow through it, and return a reading other than zero.