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Fayette finance report: sales tax dip and new debit-card plan for online payments
Summary
Treasurer Miss Platt reported a dip in March sales tax collections and explained the city will open a debit-card-tied account for online payments after declining a vendor request for city officers' personal SSNs; council discussed controls and daily limits.
Miss Platt (speaker 8) gave the finance report for March and flagged a decline in sales tax receipts that council members said they will watch closely. She reported gross sales tax collected of $307,240.96, a decrease of $30,256 from the prior month and $26,959 from the same month last year; alcohol tax collections were $6,023.70, down $1,727.62 from the previous month.
Platt also told the council the city would open a new bank account attached to a debit card to handle online and automatic payments after the vendor for a municipal credit-card account required a personal Social Security number from city officers, which staff declined to provide. "We just didn't feel like that was reasonable, and we were not willing to provide ... a personal number," Platt said. She described controls that will be in place: the debit card will be kept in the clerk's office, funds will be limited, invoice matching will continue and every expense will be signed off.
Council members asked about daily transaction limits and temporary limit increases for single large purchases; staff said they would check with the bank and report back. The council approved existing expense items that had been moved through the meeting's consent motions and agreed to proceed with the new debit-card account process with the stated internal controls.
Officials said they will continue monitoring sales-tax trends and review budget updates at the next meeting before considering any new appropriations.
