A divided council gives initial approval to double city’s occupational tax rate

Councilman Bobby Simpson makes a point while discussing a proposal to double the city’s occupational tax.

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016 — After considerable discussion, the Bardstown City Council gave its initial approval to double the city’s occupational tax. This means the tax — currently at 1/2 of 1 percent would move to a full 1 percent of every dollar earned by those working in the city limits.

Councilman Fred Hagan initially supported raising the tax from 1/2 of 1 percent to 3/4 of 1 percent, but agreed to compromise. He joined the two council members in favor of raising the rate to 1 percent.

At the last meeting, the council was divided evenly, with two council members in favor of raising the rate to 3/4 of one percent, two in favor of raising it to 1 percent, and two who favored leaving it alone.

Councilman Fred Hagan said he supported the 3/4 of a percent tax rate, but was open to compromise.

The choice is simple, Councilman Bill Buckman said –either raise sufficient revenue by raising the occupational tax, or decide what services to cut from the city’s budget.

Buckman said he supported raising the rate to 1 percent. Without the additional revenue, “whoever is sitting here will have a hard row to hoe next year.”

“We should have done it last year but we didn’t. Now our feet are to the fire and we need to do the 1 percent and get it over with.”

Kecia Copeland also supported the 1 percent tax rate because the lower rate was “putting a band aid” on the city’s revenue problem.

“We didn’t do our job last year when we did some budgeting and approved some things,” she said. “There’s no way to do this as a little sticker and think your going to quit bleeding.”

Bardstown’s occupational tax is the lowest in the state. In the 12 years since the tax was enacted, the rate has never increased.

Copeland said the council had approved the budget and now it had to fund it.

Councilwoman Kecia Copeland said she didn’t want to raise taxes, but understood the council approved a budget it must now fund.

“We made some mistakes and now we’re looking at one another asking ‘Where are we going to find this money?’ ”

Copeland again called on the council to communicate with residents about the budget situation and the need for additional revenue.

“I truly believe the City of Bardstown residents see something has to be done,” Copeland said. “If we sit back and do nothing, what is the plan? If you want projects done and retain the people we have, we have to do what we have to do to maintain the budget.”

Councilman Francis Lydian said the problem was the council “put the cart before the horse” when it approved the full-time fire department. Better planning would have avoided the projected budget crunch the council will face next year.

Mayor John Royalty said that bringing up the fire department was “a dead horse” issue. “This administration did not break up the negotiations,” he said. “The county volunteers broke it off, and they put us in this dilemma to move forward and have a full-time fire department.”

After additional discussion, Hagan made a motion to raise the tax from 1/2 percent to 1 percent. While a vote was not required for the first reading to pass, Royalty asked the council to vote in order to see where each stood.

The council split 3-3, with Copeland, Hagan and Buckman voting in favor of the increase, and Councilman Roland Williams, Simpson and Lydian voting against it. If the vote is a 3-3 tie when the measure is up for final approval, the mayor would cast the deciding vote.

The final approval of the tax increase will come at the council’s next meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016.

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