CLINTON — City officials are proceeding cautiously with the recent announcement that Walmart would close its Clinton store on July 20.

“With Walmart closing, we do anticipate some negative impact on our sales tax,” Tom Edmunds told his fellow city commissioners and the mayor.  “We don’t know exactly what that’s going to mean for us yet.”

Edmunds suggested city departments hold off on capital or unnecessary expenditures until officials have a better idea what the future holds.

“It’ll be several months before we can figure that out,” mayor Roger Cyrulik added.

Edmunds also reported that, for the previous fiscal year, sales tax revenue was not up to expectations.

“Our sales tax income was actually about $30,000 less than what we had anticipated,” Edmunds said.

The discussion took place during the July 2 city council meeting.

In additional city business, starting on July 16, Canadian National Rail will conduct work at the crossing on N. Madison Street, located near the Save-A-Lot store.  The crossing will be closed for about a week, reported public works supervisor Steve Lobb.

“They’ll confirm that with me on Friday, July 13,” Lobb said.  “So we’ll let EMS know if it’s going to be closed and the duration.”

Replacement of water meters continues.

“They sent out their second batch of letters,” commissioner John Wise reported.

Residents receive letters to notify them of the change so they can make appointments for technicians to perform the work at their homes.

“It’s a very simple process,” Wise said.  “I had mine done in 15 minutes.”

The new meters will be connected by WiFi to an antenna on the west side water tower, which will send data to the water department.  The system is intended to reduce or eliminate incorrect meter measurements and to locate leaks.