City council is coming up with some creative accounting to help ease the pension burden. Council approved a motion to dismiss the advertising for the “distressed pension act”. City Councilman Ken Westcott says the move is necessary to help offset the increasing expense of pensions and will allow the city to pay approximately 1.3 million in pension taxes as opposed to the original tax that would cost about 2.3 million. Also, earlier this year, the city refinanced bonds to help offset rising costs and give themselves enough money to cover pension debt for the next 3 years. There is new pavement on the way for the 7th ward playground. City council approved $76,482.00 dollars in improvements to the park located at 2nd and Donnan Aves. Upgrades will include paved basketball courts and playgrounds, and a walking trail. The project has been stalled for almost 2 years and they hope to complete most of the work by the end of 2024. Crews are gearing up to start working on some local roadways. Thanks to approval from city council for a new $245,639.00 dollar paving project, workers will begin laying new asphalt on city streets in the coming weeks. Currently, teams have been focusing on smaller roads as they await the return of their street sweeper which is being repaired. Once the sweeper is back, work will turn to paving larger roads, such as East Chestnut St. near Main St., McCarrell Ave., Allison Ave. and Grove Ave.