“We don’t need another tax in Linden. We are fine the way we are,” Linden Mayor Pat Vice said. During their meeting Tuesday night, Mayor Vice and the rest of the Linden City Council discussed concern for the recent one percent increase in the sales tax for Marengo County residents especially those in Linden.

Mayor Vice voiced his opinion on the matter during the final minutes of the meeting. He said that the city had recently had a tax increase and he felt that another one was unjustified.

“This is taxation without representation. The city is financially stable and we don’t need another tax here,” Mayor Vice said.

One of the questions asked by the council members was what are they going to do with the money that is generated from this tax in the City of Linden? Mayor Vice said, that they haven’t officially planned what to do with the money yet.

Councilman Howard Walters said that when he saw the report on television all they showed were pictures of Demopolis and nothing else.

“I hope they plan to spend some of that money here in Linden and not only in Demopolis,” Walters said.

All seven of the city council members were present at the meeting. They also discussed a topic from the last meeting dealing with setting the salaries for the incoming officials and the possibly of a raise in pay for the mayor and council members.

“The council members currently make $75 a meeting and the mayor makes 375 a month,” Mayor Vice said.

Councilman Butch King said he had received calls against a pay raise. He also said that he thinks they should wait till next meeting to vote on the issue, so they can have more time to talk to the residents about it.

“A lot of the phone calls I’ve received have been against the idea of a raise,” King said.

He also said that he also wanted to change the way the council members are paid from a per meeting basis to a monthly basis. He said that it wasn’t fair to penalize the council members for not coming to a meeting because they are always representing the city when they are out in public.

They decided to table the matter until the next meeting. They wanted to commend the Linden Police Department and Chief Jeff Laduron for their service during the holiday season.