The Perryville City Council passed, amended and struck through several ordinances at their Oct. 6 meeting, including to increase occupational license and net profit tax.

The council passed ordinance 2022-005, which amends ordinance 2009-004 to adopt alternative regulations for occupational license and net profit tax. They had the first reading on August 4. They passed the second reading to increase these taxes from 1% to 1.5%.

Every person or business entity engaged in any business for profit and required to file with the IRS must pay occupational license tax. Businesses in the city by residents or non-resident business entities must also pay taxes on their net profits. The ordinance will take effect in January 2023.

Other ordinances the council dealt with are as follows:

• The council passed the second reading of ordinance 2022-008, which amends chapter 35.02 and 35.03 regarding taxes. All city taxes except ad valorem taxes on motor vehicles will be due Dec. 31. Any taxpayer who pays city taxes before Nov. 30 is entitled to a 2% discount. The clerk will give a receipt in full to the taxpayer.

If not paid before Dec. 31, taxes will become delinquent. Unpaid taxes paid from Jan. 1 to 31 after the due date will have a 2% penalty. From Feb. 1 to 29 after the due date will have a 10% penalty. Each month thereafter will have a 1% penalty for taxes unpaid to be compounded monthly, not to exceed 20%

• The council passed the second reading of amended ordinance 2020-004, striking through a ban on jake braking. Jake Braking is a way that some diesel trucks slow down by using the compression release brake, which can be loud. The city cannot enforce the law that bans it because the state will not allow them to put signage up.

• The council voted to remove sections of chapter 51 which relates to sewer. Since Perryville no longer owns sewer plants and all sewer services are owned by the City of Danville, they do not need that chapter. They voted to strike through sections 51.01 to 51.99 rendering it ineffective.

They also voted to strike through the sections that relate to water services, sections 52.01 to 52.12, since Perryville does not own water services anymore.

• The council passed the first reading of ordinance 2022-009 providing opportunities for public art that enhances the quality of Perryville’s commercial corridors. The ordinance provides a list of guidelines of where art can go in the city, including that art must not impair the ability to interpret the historic character of a structure or district.

Councilman Michael Lankford asked whether murals could be advertisements, and the city attorney said there’s nothing that says they can’t be advertisements. Any application for public art and murals must be submitted and approved by the beautification committee.

In other business:

• The council continued a discussion about where to put a new fire station. An idea in a previous meeting was to put the station near the current city hall.

Several members of Perryville Baptist Church, located next to city hall, spoke out against the idea. They cited concerns with lack of space, interference with church services; and suggested the idea to have the fire station on the other side of the Chaplin River in case the bridge was ever compromised, in which case it would take longer for nearby fire trucks to get to west Perryville.

Lankford said the city has been exploring other places to put the station, including at the American Legion property. The council acknowledged the issue of possibly leasing land, since they cannot use taxpayer dollars to improve privately-owned land. The discussion is ongoing.

• Trick or treating this year in Perryville will be Oct. 31 from 5 to 7 p.m.