City school board OKs tax rate proposal for a 4 percent revenue increase

By ELIJAH BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, 3 p.m. — The Bardstown Independent Schools board of education gave initial approval of a 2015 tax rate that will provide the district with 4 percent more in additional tax revenue.

The recommended tax rate of 78.7 cents per $100 value on real estate and personal property would generate $8.24 million — about $314,000 more than the current year’s tax revenue. The rate is an increase on the 2014 rate, 75.3.

The tax on motor vehicles will stay the same at 53.1 cents per $100 value.

The tax rate includes a state-allowed .2 cent adjustment that allows districts to compensate for revenue it lost the year before from discounts and exemptions like the homestead or disability exemptions.

The recommendation was approved at a special board meeting on Tuesday evening.

Superintendent Brent Holsclaw explained the tax rate options to the board, which included accepting the compensating rate — a tax rate that generated about the same revenue as the current year.

Holsclaw explained a district the size of Bardstown that accepted the compensating tax rate every year for a decade would lose more than $4 million in revenue over that 10-year period.

Avoiding the tax revenue increase is an option, but Holsclaw called it “a risky game for a business that continues to have increases.

“We do have increases and the state is funding us the level they can,” he said. “It is up to school systems to come up with the rest that they to educate their children.

“As superintendent of this district, I have a responsiblity to be an advocate for every student and family in the school district,” he said. “This recommendation does not come lightly.”

Board member Jim Roby agreed that the recommendation was a move in the right direction, adding that the district pays good salaries that attract good teachers, which supports the districts’ academic successes.

The board unanimously approved the new tax rate that will generate a 4 percent revenue increase. A public hearing on the proposed tax rate is 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 17 before the rate goes back to the board for final approval.

NEXT UP. The Bardstown Independent Schools board of education will consider final approval of the proposed tax rate at its regular monthly meeting, noon Tuesday, Aug. 18 at the district’s central office on North Fifth Street. The meetings are open to the public.

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