Lodging Tax Overview.


The City Council Budget/Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to meet this evening at 7 in City Hall to perfect a final budget recommendation for the full Council.

The Committee is recommending that the use of lodging tax funds be expanded to include a $30,000 City Development plan. Also moved into the lodging tax category is $2,170 for Civil War Museum advertising.

The Committee is recommending that requests for funding for outside agencies using lodging tax funds be reduced if the amount was more than appropriated last year.

The Chamber request was the same as last year for the same services. The Main Street Carthage request was reduced by $2,000, Victorian Carthage reduced by $1,000, and Phelps House reduced by $3,000.

The voter approved increase in the lodging tax rate from 2% to 4% has resulted in a projected revenue of about $135,000 for next year. The Committee is recommending a total of $98,147 to be appropriated from the fund. The excess and carry-over from last year would leave about $60,000 in the fund that is not committed at this time.

Now that ya got all the junk outa your garage, it’s time ta start the spring auction circuit. With all that extra room, you can start accumulatin’ those items that ya really need.

I’m guessin’ most of the excess stuff that gathers ‘round the home place comes from those bargain’ boxes they always put together at auctions. One good thing in a bushel basket for a buck. Along with it comes miscellaneous parts for someone’s lawn mower, microwave, and a sideview mirror off a ’67 Honda (broken of course).

If ya get lucky someone will recognize another gem in your basket and buy it for fifty-cents. Just too good to pass up. They don’t want the basket, you still get to haul it home. Ya finally realize the basket is worth more than ever’thing in it.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Workman's Loan

The Super Handyman

by Al Carrell and Kelly Carrell

When you are taking something apart and you’ve got a lot of small parts to keep up with, you really need an organization system that works.

One of the easiest solutions is to grab a piece of thin cardboard and fold it back and forth, accordion style. The folded cardboard gives you lots of channels in which to rest the parts. You can even arrange them, from top to bottom, in the order that they were removed.

It’s a simple way to organize, and won’t cost you much time or any money.

Dear Al & Kelly: I like the hand cleaner that I buy for my shop. It’s less expensive to buy it by the gallon instead of the smaller dispenser bottles. I use old dishwashing-liquid and shampoo bottles as my dispensers. I save a lot of money in the process and am doing my part to recycle as well. - I.S.

The key to a shop-vacuum’s power is a tight seal around the canister. Over the years, with normal shop abuse the seal might develop cracks or cuts, or otherwise get damaged - and that can mean air leaks. You can repair the seal in just a few minutes with some peel-and-stick foam weather-stripping.

Just cut the foam strips to the size needed to cover the gap in the original gasket and stick the foam in place.

Then, when you turn on your shop vac, you should have more power. And who doesn’t like to have more power?