North Egypt News

City of West Frankfort City Council met Dec. 19.

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

 1. Mayor Arview Called The Meeting To Order At 5:30 P.M.

Requesting A Roll Call. All Commissioners Except For Commissioner Stanley, And The City Attorney Were In Attendance. Including The City Clerk.

2. Mayor Arview Asked For Approval Of An Ordinance Making

The Annual Tax Levy For The City Of West Frankfort, Illinois, For The Fiscal Year Commencing On The First Day Of May, 2023 And Ending On The Last Day Of April, 2024. The Mayor Stated We Had A Hearing Tonight At 5:00 P.M., We Didn't Have Any Questions On This. I Recommend We Approve This. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Warren. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

3. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Proposed New Collective Bargaining Agreement Between The City And The Laborers Local 773/ Dispatchers To Cover The Period Of March 1, 2023 Through February 28, 2026. Commissioner Howard Stated The Reason This Took So Long To Get This Approved Was, The Copy I Was Given Was Not The Correct Copy. John Allsopp And I Had A Few Conversations We Changed Some Of The Language In A Couple Places Where It Talks About The 1099 For The Allowance If You Do Not Use It Up. You Can't Do That The Irs Says You Have To Add It To Your W-2. We Changed If You Don't Turn In Your Receipts It Will Be Added To Your Wages. Mr. Allsopp Stated I Just Want To Say Thank You For Working With Me, And Getting This Straight, We Had A Few Conversations On The Phone You Were A Pleasure To Deal With, I Just Want To Tell Everyone Thank You. Commissioner Howard Said You Are Welcome. The Mayor Stated Hopefully We Can Make The Same Progress With The Others Here Shortly. Commissioner Howard Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Arview Voted To Approve. Motion Carried.

Audience Comments:

James Emberton Was Speaking For The Dispatchers, His Wife Is A Wf Dispatcher, He Stated I Have A Few Questions About The 1099, Uniform Allowance. I Have Been Through About 10 Different Contracts Myself Over 30 Years. Who Will Be Keeping Track Of The Receipts, Who Would They Turn The Reciepts In To, Who Will Keep Them? Also, We Were Previously Told Several Years Ago By Another Entity That Maintaince Of The Uniforms Would Also Count As Receipts, Such As Laundry Detergant, Fabric Softener, And Dryer Sheets, Because We Have To Maintain Them. I Personally Take Mine To The Dry Cleaners, So My Dry-Cleaning Receipts Went Towards That. Then You Can Get To The Nit-Picky Things Such As Shoes, Socks, Underwear, And Which Was Allowed Back Then. But This Is Something To Consider, I Am Just Curious Who Will Be Taking Care Of The Receipts. Commissioner Howard Stated Our Human Resource Manager Nancy Hobson, She Will Put The Receipts In A File. Mr. Emberton Stated Is Your Understanding About The Cleaning The Same? Commissioner Howard Stated My Understanding Is Laundry And Dry Cleaning Is, But I Will Get A Complete List To You That You Can Turn In. What It Does Say Is You Can Not Turn In Clothing That Is Suitable For Everyday Clothing. For Example, The Street Department They Wear The High-Visibility Shirts, And Includes Saftey Items. The Mayor Stated With Dealing With The Irs Rule Can Change, So We Have To Keep Up With That.

Commissioner Howard Stated I Just Want To Say Next Year We Are Going To Change It To Where It Will Not Show Up On Your W-2, We Are Going To Issue Two Separate Check For The Clothing Allowance. One Of The Dispatcher's Barbra Stated Some Said This Had Put Us In A Higher Tax Bracket, Therfore It Will Take More Taxes Out On It. Are We Going To Get Reinbursted Those Taxes Back. Commissioner Howard Said When You File Your Tax Return, You Will. What Some People Don't Understand Is If You Get A 1099 You Have To Pay Self Employement Tax On That, That Is 15.3 Percent Plus There Is No Withholding. You Will Acutally Save Money

Having It On Your W-2's. Mr. Emberton Stated Looking At My Wifes Paystub It Was Very Misleading We See The Clothing Allowance Added But It Should Of Also Of Been In The Deducted Column. Commissioner Howard Stated I Know We Are Going To Contact Our Software, Locis To Figure Out If We Can Get This Fixed. We Have Already Been Working On, It Only Showing Up Once On The W-2 Not Twice.

4. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins, Seconded By Commissioner Warren At 5:42 P.M.

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