Local

Bidder, taxes on city plate

By NEIL YOUNG/The Daily News

Monday, January 5, 2009 11:42 PM CST

BULLHEAD CITY - The old saying that “Every cloud has a silver lining” applies to the city of Bullhead City when it puts projects out for bid. The bad economy has contractors scrounging for work, which is good for the city's bottom line.

A total of 21 companies bid on the Old Bullhead sewer project, with estimates ranging from $886,000 to more than $2 million. Tonto Supply Inc. of Colorado City was the low bidder to complete the project on the east side of Highway 95. Tonto performed work on the Sunridge area sewer project and city staff is recommending the Council approve a contract with the firm when it meets at 5:30 p.m. today in the Council chamber, 1255 Marina Blvd.

Due to concerns about a legal challenge, the city put the 911 call center radio upgrade out for bid again, finding more companies bidding at lower prices than previously. There were seven complete bids, compared to three originally. The low bidder was Hardy Construction at $459,000. That fee includes $78,000 for the purchase of a new 150-foot communications tower. A new radio room is also part of the expansion plan. The funding for the project comes from the Alternative Expenditure Limitation (AEL) Option approved by Bullhead City voters in March 2007. City staff is recommending the Council approve a contract with Hardy.

Tonight, Council members will also consider changing the way the city collects sales taxes from its nearly 2,000 businesses.

Bullhead City is currently using the Arizona Department of Revenue, but there is a 60-day delay in the city receiving figures on sales tax collections, making it difficult to make timely budget reductions during the economic downturn.

The city is considering using a private firm - Revenue Discovery Systems (RDS) - to collect the sales taxes. “Once they collect, that information should be readily available within days, if not a week or two,” said Steve Johnson, Bullhead City public information officer.

RDS estimates their services will cost the city approximately $124,000 for the first 12 months, starting in March.

“We really feel that, at a minimum, we're going to at least recover the cost of having somebody do it for us and then we're going to have more accurate information,” Johnson said. “Ultimately, that's the hope - is that we will see additional revenues that we hadn't seen in the past that were being, for some reason, overlooked.”