Livingston Committee Proposes Budget For Sales Tax Rebate

The Livingston Downtown Revitalization Committee has proposed a spending plan for the city’s $205,000 sales tax rebate.

Committee Chairman Ray Evans said he’s hoping the city will use about $40,000 of the funding for some smaller projects.

“The first being the replacement of safety rails on North Church Street. Its about to fall off the side of the sidewalk,” Evans said. “It certainly doesn’t meet any current standards and we’re getting concerned from a safety standpoint.”

The committee also recommended spending some of the money for a security fence at Central Park, a new city Christmas tree, and repairs to the courthouse clock. Evans said the committee’s proposal calls for spending $163,000 on ‘high priority” items, including a $25,000 fee to the Chamber of Commerce for support of community events.

“The first three are almost mandatory. The first one certainly is and that’s a loan repayment of $137,000,” Evans said. “We always have those miscellaneous fees for being able to have music and movies in Central park, so we’ve budgeted $1,000 for that.”

Livingston receives the sales tax rebate each year and the revitalization committee makes spending recommendations to the city council. The city council will consider the proposed budget during next month’s regular scheduled meeting.