GOULD – The financial picture became a little bleaker Tuesday for Gould, the Lincoln County municipality that has not paid its employees since December.
At the conclusion of Tuesday’s City Council meeting, several aldermen indicated they had received copies of a Jan. 26 letter sent to Mayor Earnest Nash Jr. by the state Department of Emergency Management seeking $32,106.76 for an overpayment of federal funds to Gould following the winter storm of 2000.
The letter said the state is “responsible for managing the return of these funds to (the Federal Emergency Management Agency).”
Gould was paid $97,126 in a FEMA grant for “debris removal and other damages.”
Scott Bass, disaster management division director, wrote in the letter that a “closeout audit” determined the municipality was only eligible for $65,018.24, resulting in the overpayment.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Nash didn’t address the overpayment, but wanted to know how a letter sent to him last month ended up in the hands of council members.
The state gave Gould three options: Make a full payment of $32,106 by April 1; two payments of $16,053.38 each on April 1 and Oct. 1; or four equal payments of $8,026.69, commencing April 1 and ending Jan. 1.
Wednesday morning he said he could not explain, if the overpayment was owed, how the municipality received some $60,000 recently from FEMA in disaster-aid monies to repair damage from flooding last year.
The Internal Revenue Service in 2011 said it would not seek to collect $300,000 in back payroll taxes because the city proved that it couldn’t afford to pay off the debt and still operate. The latter decision was contingent on the city staying current on payroll taxes.
Within the past year the city faced loss of telephone service to City Hall for non-payment of its monthly bill and the leased photocopy machines in the building were seized for non-payment.
Aldermen Essie Mae Cableton pointed out Tuesday that the city’s financial problems began before Nash and the current council took office.
Aldermen Sonja Farley asked if City Hall had sent statements for occupation licenses to local businesses and was told the firms had stopped paying for the licenses. Nash said he would make sure the statements were sent to the businesses.
District Court Clerk Linda Howell told the council that fines and court costs levied by the court when she was named clerk in November 2005 ranged from $10,000 to $20,000 monthly, but “drastically dropped” because of issues involving municipal police personnel. The council voted Jan. 10 to fire Police Chief Talvin Collins and part-time police officer Tim Peterson, contending they seldom came to work and wrote no tickets.
Howell said the only traffic tickets now filed with the court are written by state troopers, adding the January settlement to the city from the court totaled $80.
Nash told the aldermen the city now faces an investigation from “the Labor Board” and two lawsuits because employees have not been paid.