County, city residents take part in tax protest Friday on Court Square

City and county residents took part in a tax protest Friday evening at the Old Courthouse to protest plans to raise the city’s occupational tax.

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Saturday, Aug. 22, 2015, 1 a.m. — More than a dozen people turned out on a busy Friday afternoon to attend a protest on the city’s Court Square to oppose the Bardstown City Council’s plans to raise its occupational tax.

One of a number of protest signs greeted drivers in downtown Bardstown Friday evening. The protest opposed raising the city’s occupational tax. Click to enlarge.

The protest was organized by Wilma Sorrell, a county resident who voiced her opposition to increasing in the occupational tax at the council’s Aug. 11 meeting.

“I did not want to organize this, but someone had to,” Sorrell said as protestors filtered in from around the Court Square. “You can’t make change with just one person, you have to have people standing with you and behind you.”

Sorrell’s husband Brian waved an American flag while others protesters held signs and chanted slogans like “Stand up Nelson County — no new taxes!” to the drivers coming down North Third Street and circling the Court Square.

Some drivers ignored the protestors, while others watched without responding. Some drivers — including at least one city police officer — gave the protestors thumbs-up signs, waved or honked their car horns in support of their cause.

The protest was held at the same time as a Whiskey City Cruisers display of vintage cars at the Old Court House. The cruisers backed their cars away from the roadway to give those who wished to protest more room to maneuver.

Councilwoman Kecia Copeland was the only elected official who attended the protest. Copeland said she was there to support Sorrell, who is a friend of hers, as well as attending as a member of the city council. As a councilwoman, Copeland said she’s been researching the issue and talking with a great many people in the community.

“I didn’t get here by myself, and I owe it to the community to do that,” she said.

Copeland said she and another member of the council suggested to Mayor John Royalty that the council have a public forum to give people a chance to voice an opinion on the occupational tax issue. The idea didn’t get any traction with the mayor, she said.

“As you can tell, it was needed,” Copeland said as protesters nearby continued to chant.

Councilwoman Kecia Copeland is interviewed by WBRT Radio’s Milt Spalding Friday evening at the occupational tax protest on Court Square.

Better communication with the public would make it unnecessary for City Hall to publish editorials and letters to the editor explaining why tax increases and other actions are necessary, she said.

“When you say you’re going to be transparent, it needs to be across the board,” she said of the mayor’s claims of transparency. “Our job is to answer questions, and we owe it to voters to let them know why something’s going on.”

Of the three proposed occupational tax hike scenarios — which include increasing the tax from 1/2 a cent to 3/4 of a cent, 1 cent or 1-1/4 cents per dollar of earned income — Copeland said she did not support raising the occupational tax to 1-1/4 cents and then lowering the city’s property tax rate.

“Its a very precarious situation we’re in, and I hope everyone on the council will think hard about what we do. We owe it to our city residents and also those who come into the city to work.”

Some protesters took issue with what they saw as the mayor’s role in the separation of the city and volunteer fire departments and the cancellation of the city-county recreation agreement. Both agreements were canceled by then-Mayor Bill Sheckles in September 2014 with the stated intent to renegotiate them before they expired.

Organizer Wilma Sorrell talks with a couple who stopped by to ask about the occupational tax protest.

Negotiations between Royalty and the volunteer fire department failed, as did talks about renegotiating the joint city-county recreation agreement.

“It looks like it all just began to snowball,” one protestor said.

Copeland said cooperation between the city and county is important for economic reasons and for the future of the community. She said she was encouraged by Friday’s announcement the city would remain part of the E-911 dispatch center.

“We owe it to the citizens to do the right thing,” she said.

The proposal to raise the occupational tax while lowering the city property tax sounded like a vote-buying scheme that amounts to taxation without representation, Sorrell told protesters.

She and several supporters passed around petitions seeking signatures to oppose a tax increase. Sorrell said she hopes to present the petition to the council at its meeting this Tuesday night.

The three occupational tax options — increasing it from half a cent to 3/4, 1 or 1-1/4 cents per dollar of earned income — are on the agenda for Tuesday’s council meeting. The agenda also includes first reading of an ordinance that leaves the 2015 property tax rate unchanged.

The council meets 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 25 in the council chambers in the City Hall Annex on Xavier Drive adjacent to the rec center gym.

-30-