City Services Expo – State of the City
Later this month the City of Florence will have a City Services Expo at the Florence Events Center. On Monday, February 26, the city will set up booths that highlight the services provided by the City of Florence. The expo will begin at 5 pm and Mayor Rob Ward will give a State of the City address at 6pm and take a look back at 2023 and what citizens can expect in the coming year. Then on March 6th the City will convene again for the public to give an informational guide to the upcoming realignment project on Rhododendron Drive. The project is expected at time to close portions of Rhododendron drive between Wildwinds and 35th Street. That presentation will also be at the Florence Events Center from 5-7.
Art Exposed
The City of Florence is putting the final pieces together on the Art Exposed displays that will soon be coming to the ReVision Florence Streetscape on Highway 101. And the finalists pieces can be viewed before final Choices are made. City official Chantelle Meyer is a member of the committee.
“We narrowed it down as a committee to 12 pieces that we are going to be looking at in our upcoming meeting on February 15th and all of those pieces are available on our website.”
Meyer says they welcome input from the community. The meeting will be held at City Hall beginning at 5:30. They intend to begin installing the pieces in April. The city’s website is ci.florence.or.us
Free Tax Help
A program to assist people with their taxes has gone live in Oregon. The A-A-R-P Foundation’s Tax-Aide program has sites across the state to help people prepare their tax returns, free of charge. Rebecca Von Stein is a coordinator in central Oregon for the program. She says the focus is on helping older people but they also assist low income families. Von Stein say they assist people who might otherwise struggle to do their taxes.
“Our taxpayers don’t have resources to go to a paid preparer. They oftentimes have no computer skills.”
Last year, Tax-Aide volunteers assisted more than one-point-five million people nationally with their taxes. While the program can help in most cases, they may not be able to help in some complicated situations, such as rental income or returns that involve small businesses with employees.
