Residents speak out against tax hike at city school board public hearing

By ELIJAH BROOKS & JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Monday, Aug. 17, 2015, 9 p.m. — The Bardstown Board of Education’s preliminary decision to consider a tax hike that will generate a 4 percent increase in revenue drew critical comments from the audience at Monday night’s public hearing.

At a special meeting on Aug. 6, the board gave its initial approval of raising the tax rate from 75.5 to 78.7 cents per $100 value on real estate and personal property. The rate hike will generate $8.24 million — approximately $314,000 than last year’s tax rate.

SUPERINTENDENT BRENT HOLSCLAW

For a home assessed at $100,000 that was taxed at last year’s tax rate (75.5), the property owner would pay $755 in tax. With the proposed tax rate increase (78.7), that same assessed property value would mean paying $787 — an additional $32, Holsclaw said.

Holsclaw pointed out that the increase is not a 4 percent increase in the tax rate, but a 4 percent increase in the overall tax revenue generated by the tax.

Bardstown businessman Don Parrish told the board that he owns several pieces of property in the city, and the city school district’s property taxes are greater than the combined totals of the city and county property taxes.

The city school district has taken the 4 percent tax revenue increase every year since 2003, Superintendent Brent Holsclaw said.

“Your tax income is so much greater than the other taxes, but yet you go for the maximum every year. Why is that?” Parrish asked.

Holsclaw pointed to cuts in state funding as one reason the board is placed in a position that they must seek to raise taxes.

“It’s a matter of doing business, its not a luxury,” Holsclaw said. “Its how we make the budget. We’ve cut costs in a lot of areas, but this is something we do to make the budget work.”

Parrish said he was told the district is one of the highest paying in the state, and questioned if that it was necessary for the district to do so.

“You get what you pay for,” Holsclaw said, adding that the district pays well, but is not the highest paying district.

“I don’t make an apology for paying our teachers well,” he said. “As a result, our students get a very good education.”

Board member Jim Roby said the board made a conscious decision to pay teachers well.

“As a board we decided we wanted to afford quality teachers and quality facilities,” he said. “I think the results we receive demonstrate we are doing that.”

The state has mandated district provide across-the-board raises that aren’t fully funded, which requires the districts to find a way to fund them, Roby said.

Patricia Murray Boone, a retired teacher with the Nelson County Schools, told the board that raising taxes every year creates a hardship on city taxpayers.

“Just because you are sitting in these positions and have the privilege of doing this — it does not make it fair,” Boone told the board. “You need to think of the average person.”

Boone also said she has seen the district spend money on things that weren’t necessary, including the electronic sign in front of the high school. She and her husband pay more in taxes to the city schools than to the city and county combined.

She told the board that teacher pay is important, but said she’s seen teachers leave the Nelson County Schools because the city school district pays better.

Holsclaw said the average salaries aren’t that different between the two districts.

Another member of the audience noted that the tax rate for Jefferson County’s public schools is lower than the Bardstown Independent Schools tax rate.

“We’re not building up a huge amount of money,” Roby told the audience. “We’re not overcharging, we’re just trying to keep up with what we have, and stay on top of the situation.”

Boone suggested the board take a look at cutting expenditures before it raises taxes, noting the county school taxes are lower, and they county schools educate more students than the city schools.

“It is not fair to the average taxpayer,” she said.

“Be assured this is not easy for us,” Holsclaw told the audience. “We’re going to take your comments and make that decision tomorrow.”

NEXT UP. The board will take final action on its tax rate at the regularly monthly meeting at noon in the board’s Central Office on North Fifth Street.

-30-