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The Salem Area Chamber of Commerce “Our History of Independence” parade was a great success on Saturday, July 3^rd.  There were over 76 entries, plus 55 individual horses. The winner of the non-commercial prize was the Grace Community Church Children’s Ministry and the winner of the commercial prize was Sonic Drive-In. A big thank you to all who participated in this fun and family oriented event from the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce.

The Salem Board of Aldermen held their regular meeting Tuesday afternoon at the city hall council chambers. The board heard from Ruth Gilmore about the possible raising of electric rates and she wanted to know how many electric shutoffs there were in the last two months as well as how many were not turned back on. Mayor Brown said that there were 60 shutoffs and all of them have been reconnected except for those who have moved. She wanted to say that any electric increase would be detrimental to those who are sick or homebound, and wanted the city to work on energy conservation programs. David Tune then spoke about the electric rate increase and quoted the state auditors report to the city of Salem that suggested that the electric rates should only cover the costs of that utility and not be transferred to general revenue. After Tune spoke, Alderman Nash said that the city should undergo an electrical rate analysis to see what the rate should be, and that analysis would cost the city at least $15,000. Mayor Gary Brown’s appointment to replace the late Jim Jackson was delayed as his choice was out of town and he will make the recommendation at the next meeting. Mayor Brown then went over the budget adjustments that would need to be made to bring the budget in line after the electrical rate increase failed at the last meeting. He reported that proposed revenues in the electric department would now be $5,965,560. He said that the proposed shed from the electric department budget would have to be cut as well as $10,000 from maintenance. He also said that a new computer program for the city would cost an additional $40,000 and that the backhoe in the capital improvement sales tax was entered as $30,000 and it should have been $20,000. After the budget adjustments, the proposed revenues for the city would be $10,454,870 and the proposed expenses would be $10,408,654 leaving revenues over expenses of $46,216. The board later approved Bill #3203 that adopted these changes to the budget as required by state statutes. Mayor Brown wanted to thank the city employees for their assistance with the heritage festival, the Salem Sesquicentennial Committee for their work with the festival, Larry Gray for the fireworks and the chamber of commerce for the parade. He said that contributions to the fireworks fund were at $1,455 and people could still make donations to the city firework’s fund. Sharon Tubbs handed out a brochure on the Salem Walking Tour of the buildings downtown which was proposed as part of the Revitalization program from two years ago that describes what businesses used to be in the different locations downtown. Brown said that 1,558 people used the fitness center in the Salem Freedom Activity Center and another 972 used the Salem TCRC. After the bills were approved, the board went into closed session to discuss litigation.

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