District 2 magistrate candidates meet for Nelson County America First PAC forum

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022 — The magistrate candidates for District 2 participated in town hall-style forum Wednesday at Thomas Nelson High School sponsored by Nelson County American First PAC.

Incumbent 2nd District Magistrate Gary Coulter, who is completing his first term on Nelson Fiscal Court, and Republican challenger Adam Wheatley found a great deal of common ground in their answers to moderators’ questions.

LOSS OF BOURBON LIQUIDS TAX. Both men pointed to the possible loss of the liquids tax revenue as a major problem the next fiscal court and judge executive may be required to deal with.

The loss to the fiscal court’s budget is about $1.2 million, Coulter said.

While the bill is still in committee, if it is approved in the General Assembly next year, it means not only the loss of $1.2 million to the county budget, but the loss of revenue from the future warehoused spirits that are stored in Nelson County.

“It’s going to take penny pinching at a level never seen before,” Wheatley said. “I think it’s going to be a matter of tightening our belt and making do with what we’ve got.”

Coulter agreed that fiscal court will have to live within its budget the best it can if the tax is dropped.

The Industrial Revenue Bonds allow the distilleries to avoid paying property taxes on expansion projects or new construction, including warehouse properties. If the barrel tax is eliminated, those properties could be returned to the property tax rolls, and those taxes would help cover part of the loss of the liquids tax, Coulter said.

He agreed that the loss would mean tightening the budget.

Wheatley said that he doesn’t believe the barrel tax is a done deal.

“I’m hoping that with local support and legislative support we can avoid that bullet.”

SHERIFF SALARIES. When asked about what they would like to see fiscal court do in regard to the salaries of sheriff’s deputies, both agreed it should be a priority of the next fiscal court.

Both men acknowledge the importance of the sheriff’s office to the community.

“We need law and order,” Wheatley said. “Without law and order, you don’t have a community.”

Coulter said there’s room for more pay in the budget, and those discussions should take place in the public safety committee rather than a fiscal court meeting.

“If we sit down, one-on-on, I think we can work it out.”

Wheatley said the new court should discuss options and look at other communities and how they’ve addressed law enforcement pay.

Coulter noted that if fiscal court approves raises for the sheriff’s office, they can expect the rest of the county’s employees to also receive raises.

SMART GROWTH? When asked to define their concept of “smart growth,” Wheatley said that the term means growing a community’s infrastructure as the community grows, rather than infrastructure trying to catch up to the growth.

In Bardstown, traffic during peak hours can get very congested.

“We have to get the truck traffic out of downtown,” Wheatley said. “I’ve watched cars have to back up so those tractor trailers could get around the courthouse. I’m amazed no one has been hurt or killed there.”

Growth can be guided or directed by local government and agencies like planning and zoning, but there has to be a balance with private property rights, he said.

For industrial growth, it takes significant investment to bring the needed utilities to a new industrial area, Coulter explained. You have to have water, natural gas, electric and sewer lines for growth. The county needs a new industrial park, particularly with the new battery plant slated for neighboring Hardin County.
County needs new industrial park.

MULTI-PURPOSE SPORTS FACILITY. Both candidates were in favor of a new multi-use sports complex, but both also agreed that funding such a project goes beyond the means of both city and county governments.

Coulter said it would take a public-private partnership to fund a sports facility.

“We don’t have to go out and spend $50 million, we can start small,” he said. A splash park for kids would be a good start.

Wheatley said a foundation should be created to find funding options for a pool that involves volunteers from all across the community. They could spend 3 to 5 years and raise money, and then pay the costs to operate it once its built.

Coulter asked where the money is coming from to pay for new projects. “Its not coming from raising taxes while I’m on fiscal court,” he said.

COUNTY JAIL. Both men agreed that the jail is aging and need either major upgrades or replacing.

Wheatley said the new fiscal court needs to look at short-term and long-term options for the county jail. The court needs to work with the new jailer to decide the best path forward.

Coulter credited Nelson County Jail Buck Snellen for the great job he’s done as jailer. But the jail is continuing to age, and its just a matter of time until it is obsolete, he said.

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