Downtown Hanceville

The Hanceville City Council has agreed to collect its new half-cent sales tax in the same manner as all the county’s other towns do — via the Cullman County sales tax office.

The council voted Thursday to continue relying on the county tax office to collect and tally sales taxes from local merchants in a quick decision Mayor Kenneth Nail described as a “no brainer.”

“When we passed the tax, we did not designate who would collect it for us, and we took care of that with this resolution,” he said. “They already collect everything, and they make it easy for everybody in the county to receive and monitor their taxes, so it was pretty much a no-brainer.”

The city council approved the half-cent increase at its Dec. 10 meeting on a 4-2 vote, raising sales taxes inside the city limits from 8.5 cents to 9 cents. The new tax is slated to take effect after the first of the year.

The increase places Hanceville in the same company as Fairview, Dodge City, and the City of Cullman — all of which currently assess their sales taxes at nine percent.

In addition to the half-cent tax within Hanceville’s city limits, the increase also raises sales taxes by a quarter cent in the police jurisdiction extending 1.5 miles beyond. Revenues collected from the police jurisdiction tax are to be used only for services and projects that lie within the outlying jurisdiction area, and not in the city itself.

The increase, said Nail, is necessary in order for the city to continue to operate without making cuts in essential services.

In a separate matter, the council also approved the spending of $5,000 in non-budgeted funds for immediate culvert repairs on Helen Warren Vogel Street.

“It wasn’t a budgeted item, but it really needs to be fixed before the spring comes, when we anticipate paving that area,” said Nail. “It’ll involve having to buy the 48-inch culverts; the gravel; the concrete, and our street people, of course, are doing the work.”