Nelson Fiscal Court OKs moving landline 911 fees to property tax bills
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Tuesday, June 7, 2016, 2 p.m. (UPDATED with video, June 9, 2016) — Nelson Fiscal Court gave unanimous final approval of an ordinance that removes the 911 fee off landline telephone bills and places it on the property tax bills.
The ordinance also raised the 911 fee from $1.71 per month to $2 a month, or $24 per year.
Judge Executive Dean Watts explained that the reason the fee was moved was to improve financial support for the county’s 911 dispatch center, Watts said. Years ago, every home with a phone paid the fee, he explained. The 911 fee has never fully funded the dispatch center.
Joyce Anderson of Samuels disagreed with Nelson Fiscal Court’s proposal to move 911 fees from landline telephone bills to property tax bills.
“We’re just trying to get back to where we would have been if everyone still had a landline,” Watts said.
Samuels area resident Joyce Anderson spoke against adding the fee to property tax bills. She suggested holding fundraising like the Crusade for Children.
“Don’t push it on anybody,” she said.
She said she had talked to a lot of people who also did not want the fee added to tax bills, and she expressed her concern about future increases in the 911 fee if the county approved the ordinance.
“I don’t know what you’ll do after that, but if you do what the board of education does and throw 4 percent on us, I don’t know how much it will go up to,” she said.
The court has discussed 911 funding for months in an effort to find the fairest way to collect the fee. The court’s vote to approve the ordinance was unanimous.
BOSTON FIRE DUES. Fire dues in the Boston Volunteer Fire Department’s service area will increase from $40 to $50 this year. Nelson Fiscal Court held a public hearing at its meeting this morning on the request. No one spoke against the request during the public hearing, and the court unanimously approved the increase.
Nelson County Judge Executive talks with Magistrate Keith Metcalfe prior to the start of Tuesday’s Nelson Fiscal Court meeting.
TOURISM BUDGET. The court approved the Tourist Commission fiscal year 2017 budget after questions about some of the increased expenditures.
The commission is increasing its media advertising and its digital media, director Dawn Przystal told the magistrates based on increases in income from the room and restaurant taxes it receives.
Part of the $100,000 increase includes a revamp of the tourist commission’s website, and increasing the number of digital ads.
Przystal also said she plans an “influencer campaign,” which will use bloggers and social media users with large followings who will be compensated for writing favorable reviews of their experiences visiting Bardstown and Nelson County attractions.
She said the community gets $83 spent here for every dollar the tourist commission spends in marketing tourism in Nelson County.
In other business, the court:
— approved Royce Fitzpatrick to fill in as interim animal control officer following Larry Wimsett’s retirement. Watts said county employees who wish to apply for animal control officer get first chance; if no applicants come forth the opening will be advertised. The court also approved raising Fitzpatrick’s pay from $16 to $20 per hour.
— approve the purchase of software and servers for a new records management system. The $80,578 purchase will replace the old Spillman Technologies record management system and is compatible with the new computer aided dispatch software system.
— appointed Mary Ellen Rogan Marquess to the Northeast Nelson Fire District Board.
— accepted the Castle Cove subdivision roads into the county road maintenance system.
— approved an end-of-year budget amendment that reflects the sale of tracts in the Nelson County Industrial Park.
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