LINDEN &045; Although tax revenue has seen a decrease on both local and county levels, the City of Linden has some positive gain to report in the form of business license revenue.

According to Cheryl Hall, city administrator, the city budgeted $220,000 in expected revenue from business license fees. As of this week, Hall said, the city collected $238,000 in revenue from the business licenses.

Furthermore, Hall said she sent out at least 112 delinquent notices to businesses who had not renewed their license, which was required by Jan. 31. With the revenue from these businesses, who will be required to pay a 20 percent penalty as a late fee, the city expects to generate even more revenue.

In other financial matters, Councilman Dennis Breckenridge reported the city received a $21,000 check from the county parks and recreation department. This brings the total amount donated to the city to $61,000 over the last year. Breckenridge reported the city is also continuing work at Scott Park and expects to move onto work at Austin Park in the near future.

Councilwoman Mitzi Gates gave an update on the citizens committees from the Grow Linden effort. To date, the committee responsible for the city’s Web site has continued to meet to get the site up and running. Gates said she would like to &8220;renew her commitment&8221; to the effort, and follow through on the plans that were developed in partnership with the University of West Alabama and citizen’s input.

Mayor Pro-Tem Butch King reported Mayor Pat Vice underwent surgery recently on his neck and back and will be in recovery for the next few weeks.

In other business, the council:

4Approved a review of the city’s audit report.

4Approved bid auctioning for surplus equipment held by the city. Terry Tyson, public works director, said he anticipates a sealed bid process with minimum purchase amounts set on each of the seven pieces of equipment. If these minimums are not met, Tyson said the bidding process could be revisited in a public fashion.