Mayor Considers "Ticket Tax"
<pre class="aLF-aPX-K0-aPE aLF-aPX-aLK-ayr-auR">Du Quoin Mayor Guy Alongi at the close of Monday's city council meeting broached the subject of a "conversation about the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds" and reconstituting a 5 percent "ticket tax" that is already in the city's ordinances.
A second proposal would charge vendors at the Du Quoin State Fair a $25-$40 city vendor fee similar to a fee paid by short term vendors who set up concession or food vending stands downtown.
The topics were part of a meeting that included final passage of water rate hikes, a new employee travel policy, and a cooperative mutual aid agreement with area first responders. The council also voted to place a $1 water service charge that would set money aside for infrastructure improvements and a set of previously discussed liquor ordinances on public display.
The evening included a discussion about a car giveaway which has a chance of raising between $12,000 and $16,000 for swimming pool renovations above and beyond the cost of the car. The car would be a new red Chevrolet Cruze purchased from Chip Banks Chevrolet with 1,800 tickets being sold (with the help of the Swimming Indians) for $20 each.
The council discussed $35,000 in emergency sewer line repairs between Thill's Florist and Marshall Browning Hospital. And, it was a night to honor some of Du Quoin's great athletic and Indianette teams, Vietnam vets and the Girl Scouts.
Mayor Guy Alongi presented proclamations to the Du Quoin Middle School girls basketball team, the Du Quoin High School Indianettes, the Du Quoin Middle School baseball team, the Du Quoin Middle School Class L state championship basketball team, a proclamation recognizing the service of our men and women who served 50 years ago in the Vietnam War and Girl Scout Week.
The council placed on public display a completely new city liquor ordinance.
Here are the highlights 
1.Liquor licenses will be $1,500 per year for all licenses except video gaming parlors and they will be $2,000 per year. If the establishment has video surveillance then the license will be $1,000 for all licenses and $1,500 for video gaming parlors. All licenses will remain at $1000 until renewal on June 1, 2017 at which time the new fees will kick in that gives everyone one year to install video surveillance if they wish to get the discounted rate. Wine-only license only at the fairgrounds will be $300 per year. All new businesses requesting a liquor license after the approval date of this ordinance will be required to install video surveillance as part of their operation.
2. There will be a change to the following symbol for a license.
(A) Will now be a (T) for Tavern ( Maximum of 12).
(B) Will now be a (P) for Package Liquor (Maximum of 11).
(C) Will now be a (O) for Organizations (Maximum of 6).
(D) Will now be a (F/B) for Fairgrounds Beer Only (Maximum of 1).
(F) Will now be an (R) for Restaurant ( Maximum of 7).
(G) will now be a (BP) for Brew Pub (Maximum of 3)
(VGP) Video Gaming Parlor (Maximum of 2) NEW
(F/W) for Fairgrounds Wine Only (Maximum of 2) NEW
3. Special Event daily licenses will be $50 per day for a maximum of three continuous days.
4. Hours of operation will be unchanged except for the two Sundays of the Du Quoin fiar. There will be NO approval of additional operational hours.
At the close of the meeting, Chet Armstrong of the American Legion said his board was opposed to the installation of a video surveillance system as a matter of cost and privacy, even though the mayor assured Armstrong there would be a request for video tapes only in the case of a breakin or incident. Armstrong told the mayor the legion would pay the higher $500 licensing fee, instead.
The council gave final approval to a set of ordinances designed to pass along Rend Lake's 3.28 percent water rate hike, cover the cost of installing water hookups and increasing security deposits for more-often-than-not transients who fail to pay their last water bill when they leave a residence. The four ordinances also provide for a slightly higher reconnection fee if your water is turned off.
The city will raise what is now a fixed $10.98 service fee on everyone's water bill each month by $1, then park that money in a hands-off account to pay for the local match to these state and federal grants.
In the first year alone, the $1 service fee would raise $48,000.
Alongi said fiscal solvency is the platform on which he ran for mayor. The council gave final approval to a robust employee travel policy that fully defines what the city will pay for with respect to employee travel and reimbursement to employees for their out-of pocket travel expenses.
The council gave final approval to a mutual aid agreement with surrounding communities.
The council voted to offer positions to four parttime summer street and grounds workers.
With respect to the "ticket tax" and vendor fee, Alongi said he was not trying to take advantage of vendors and ticket purchasers at the Du Quoin State Fair and other local venues.
He said that what he sees are these venues making money and leaving Du Quoin to deal with the security of these events and cleaning up the mess afterwards. He said a 5 percent tax on tickets over $8 wold not be abusive. In fact, the tax was enacted several years ago, but was never activated as a revenue tool.
With respect to vendors, he said a $25 to $40 vendor fee would be a modest set up fee and would generate a lot of revenue for the city in a year's time. He said these things are all topics of conversations--no more and no less.
With respect to the replacement of 200 feet of sewer line on North Washington Street, he says the city has known about a sewer collapse for six years, but never did anything about it. He told residents of that area who attended the meeting the work should take about a week and the city hopes to minimize the inconvenience.
The council also approved fundraising roadblocks for Du Quoin Baseball, Inc. and the Lions Club and voted to transfer city funds on deposit with state investment pools back to Banterra Bank, because under federal Securities & Exchange Commission 0 rules the city can no longer write checks on those deposits.
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