Meeting of September 12, 2023
Fiscal Court Meeting - September 12th, 2023 · Watch on YouTube ↗
Summary
Hardin County Fiscal Court – September 12, 2023
The court held its regular voting meeting focused heavily on setting the 2023 county property tax rates. After presentations from the Soil Conservation District, Cooperative Extension Service, and Lincoln Trail District Health Department, Judge Executive Keith Tall presented a detailed analysis comparing the 'compensating rate' (roughly flat revenue) to a four percent revenue increase option. After a public hearing, the court voted to adopt the four percent growth rate for real property (113 cents per $100) and personal property tax rates, which technically lowers the nominal rate from last year but, combined with rising property valuations, still increases total tax collected. Magistrates Hicks and Saltzman voted no, with Hicks and Larry (a citizen) speaking against raising taxes on struggling families, while Judge Tall and others defended the increase as necessary given Hardin County's inability to levy occupational taxes like most Kentucky counties.
The court also approved an emergency budget amendment and resolution to purchase three used ambulances (with new chassis and refurbished boxes) for about $525,000, citing a fleet crisis: seven of thirteen ambulances were out of service for repairs at times, and new ambulance orders face a three-year wait. This is in addition to three brand-new ambulances already approved at a prior meeting for about $800,000 total.
Other business included second reading and passage of an ordinance establishing design and construction standards for county roadways, first reading of an ordinance on recurring library expansion bond payments, and a large consent agenda covering personnel resolutions, an acting senior engineer appointment, financial transfers for the library construction project, an employee assistance program agreement, and acceptance of surplus stretchers from Shelby County EMS.
During public comment, citizens raised concerns about transparency—asking that draft resolutions/ordinances be made available before votes—and sought clarity on hospital sale proceeds and Blue Oval-related occupational tax revenue. Judge Tall and Magistrate Fred Clem explained that Blue Oval's taxes are deferred for years under state incentive agreements, though a taxing district around Glendale (excluding downtown Glendale) has begun collecting occupational taxes this year, and a negotiated $6 million (plus $2 million later) payment from the developer is still pending.
Routine items included approval of the August 29 meeting minutes (as amended), engineering/code enforcement reports showing steady erosion control and recycling activity, and magistrate announcements about upcoming community events (Upton Days, West Point River Days) and committee meeting schedules. The meeting adjourned after magistrate comments emphasizing traffic safety and community engagement.
Agenda (20)
- 3:19
Call to order, roll call, invocation, pledge
The meeting was called to order, roll call taken with all magistrates present, invocation given by Magistrate Whitehead and pledge led by Magistrate Pennington.
- 7:16
Approval of August 29, 2023 minutes
The court approved the previous meeting's minutes with an amendment correcting a statement about Squire Yates regarding opera/offer money.
- 9:20
Soil Conservation District tax rate presentation
Vincent Thompson reported the Hardin County Conservation District will apply for the compensating tax rate this year for the first time, and reviewed district activities and accolades.
- 12:57
Cooperative Extension Office tax rate presentation
Zach Ebert reported the Extension District Board recommended taking the compensating tax rate, slightly lower than the previous year.
- 13:57
Lincoln Trail District Health Department tax rate presentation
Sarah Jo Best reported the Board of Health voted to maintain its tax rate of 22 cents per $100 valuation, unchanged for 22 years.
- 14:50
County property tax rate presentation
Judge Tall presented a detailed analysis of compensating vs. four percent tax rate options, budget context, and recommended adopting the four percent rate for real and personal property taxes.
- 32:02
Public hearing on proposed tax rates
County Attorney opened the required public hearing on the proposed tax rates; no citizens spoke to be heard, and the hearing was closed.
- 34:15
Vote on resolution approving 2023 property tax rates
After lengthy debate about whether the four percent rate constitutes a tax increase, the court voted 7-2 (Hicks and Saltzman opposed) to approve the resolution setting the 2023 tax rates.
- 47:17
Engineering/Solid Waste/Code Enforcement report
Stephanie Gibbons presented July and August statistics on erosion control inspections, code enforcement cases, shredding events, recycling totals, and the recent free dump day with 548 cars.
- 53:27
Road department report postponed
The road department's annual report was postponed because Dwight was unable to attend due to a family medical situation.
- 54:17
Citizens concerns and comments
Citizens Dolly, Bobby Alexander, and Bobby Coleman raised concerns about transparency of draft resolutions/ordinances, hospital sale fund accounting, ambulance costs, and occupational tax revenue from Blue Oval/Glendale.
- 1:13:31
Second reading: County roadway design and construction ordinance
The court passed the second reading of Ordinance 336, establishing design and construction standards for county roadways.
- 1:14:59
First reading: Library expansion recurring expenses ordinance
The court approved the first reading of an ordinance preapproving recurring expenses (bond principal and interest payments) for the library expansion.
- 1:15:59
Emergency ambulance purchase discussion
Judge Tall explained the emergency order to purchase three used ambulances (new chassis, refurbished boxes) for about $175,000 each due to a fleet crisis, with magistrates discussing the need and urgency.
- 1:30:50
Emergency budget amendment for ambulance purchase
The court passed an emergency budget amendment ordinance moving $524,994 into the general account to fund the three used ambulances.
- 1:32:23
Resolution approving ambulance purchase
The court passed a resolution approving the actual purchase of the three used ambulances from the chosen vendor.
- 1:33:13
Consent agenda
The court approved a bundle of consent items including claims payment, personnel resolutions, engineering job description revisions, acting senior engineer appointment, library construction checking account, EAP agreement, and surplus stretcher acceptance.
- 1:37:34
County Clerk announcement
County Clerk reminded the public of voter registration and absentee ballot deadlines for the November election.
- 1:38:13
Magistrate comments
Magistrates gave various community announcements including Upton Days, West Point River Days, committee meeting schedules, and reminders about traffic safety and citizen engagement.
- 1:44:53
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned after a motion and second with no objections.
Motions & votes (9)
- 7:16
passedApprove the August 29, 2023 fiscal court minutes as amended
unanimous
- 32:52
passedAmend the recommended tangible personal property tax rate from 109 cents to 113 cents on the public notice
Moved by Judge Executive Keith Tall · 8-1, Squire Hicks opposed
- 34:39
passedApprove resolution 2023195 setting the 2023 county property tax rates at the four percent growth rate
7-2, Squire Hicks and Squire Saltzman opposed
- 1:14:27
passedApprove the second reading of Ordinance 336 creating a guide for design and construction of county roadways
unanimous
- 1:15:33
passedApprove the first reading of Ordinance 3331 preapproving recurring expenses for the library expansion bond payments
unanimous
- 1:31:48
passedApprove emergency budget amendment ordinance 3322 moving $524,994 into the general account for three used ambulances
unanimous
- 1:32:43
passedApprove resolution 2023199 approving the purchase of three used ambulances
unanimous
- 1:36:29
passedApprove the consent agenda including claims, personnel resolutions, engineering appointments, and other items
unanimous
- 1:44:53
passedMotion to adjourn the meeting
no objections
Transcript (84 segments)
- 2:21
sure are happening right now this is good afternoon welcome everyone and to all of our elected officials it looks like we have one of our Mayors here today and appreciate you being here and your lovely wife better half right and um any uh all our department heads of course my staff that's here that put all this together and uh I appreciate all of you and of course all of the citizens that are here and um that are interested in your County government so thank you for being here just a comment again just a reminder because I forget myself matter of fact I'll check my cell phones and uh make sure that they are turned off so we'll be mine going off all right so this is the September 12 2023 Hardin County Fiscal Court regular voting meeting so let's begin and we'll call this meeting to order all right roll call please Squire clam here Squire Hicks hair Squire Muse here Squire Pennington here
- 3:34
Squire Saltzman here Squire Thompson here Squire Whitehead here Squire Yates here judge executive Keith tall here all right next we have our invocation Magister Patsy Whitehead and our Pledge of Allegiance from magistrate Aaron Pennington all right please bow with me Heavenly Father we come to you today and ask that you open our hearts and our minds to see the needs in our community guide us in making important decisions this afternoon please bless and watch over our community as we Face Rising coveted numbers illnesses and grief we pray for the many victims of 9 11 and the First Responders who braved this strategy Tragedy by making the ultimate sacrifice father God we humbly ask you to wrap us in your love and grace Lord lead us to be more tolerant
- 4:45
and kind in all we do and say in Jesus name we pray amen students of the United States for all all right um so just for uh just a few comments uh typically I'll try to uh go through the agenda but again just thanks for being here today and uh well it's uh pretty full agenda today there are some extra ones I think up here in this box if you need one um but yeah so we have the uh we'll talk about the minutes next and vote on those from the previous meeting we've got some informational items today a bit of a focus on property tax rates and so we'll have some presentations for those including my my own presentation and then after that we'll
- 5:58
have a public hearing on the tax rates and then we'll proceed with a vote on on that and then afterwards we'll have our typical department and office reports from planning and Engineering in a road department and then there are some written reports as part of the packet any citizens concerns or comments regarding anything on the agenda will be open and after that we have several ordinances and resolutions we'll have as I mentioned the resolution on property tax rates we'll have one on the second reading of a design and construction of County roadways another one on on another ordinance a first reading of the ordinance on recurring expenses for the library expansion then we have three items on there regarding an emergency purchase of three ambulances and we'll we'll dig into that when we get to it and then we have several items on our consent agenda and then our typical comments and then adjourning so that's that's the basic
- 7:12
agenda today that we'll be going through at that let's go ahead and approve the Hardin County Fiscal report August 29th 2023 minutes is there a motion to approve okay a motion is second any discussion judge I got one change to the minutes uh down where it says Squire Yates shared the part of the increase included stretcher equipment it states that he also stated that the county needed to spend its Opera money that needs to be changed that he also stated that the counties needed to spend their offer money okay um so if it's okay with Fiscal Court we could go ahead and vote on the minutes as amended said okay all right so we'll go ahead and just proceed with that and have a any other discussion okay all right so let's go ahead and have a roll call Squire clam yes Square Hicks yes Square Muse yes Squire Pennington yes Squire
- 8:26
Saltzman yes Squire Thompson yes Squire Whitehead yes Squire Yates yes judge executive Keith tall yes motion passes all right next on the agenda is are some informational items and some presentations I think we have some folks here today to uh to explain a few things to us so on the Hardin County Soil Conservation Vincent Thompson if you'd like to kind of give us an update on what the the tax rates I think is the main topic right sure thing judge thank you I really like the color called Squire and I just really enjoyed that I hear that being a state of dollars so I want to make sure that was well known could you pull that microphone up towards your mouth just a little bit how about that that's better thank you so y'all heard that I'd like to help y'all be any college Squires um no the Hardin County Conservation District this year is going to be applying for the compensating rate which in years past we've always had a flat tax rate but this is the first time that I know in my history we've been applied for compensating rate and maybe in the history of the organization so as we all know times are just tied all around and here we are
- 9:40
as always when we present I like to ask the court to give me just a few moments to list off some of the accolades the district gets to a pin in their cap if y'all would mind please so I'm sorry please proceed thank you so uh we always have the art and writing contest which several of the magistrates himself have been able to attend the banquet that we hold get a chance for all the kids to come out there we actually I learned this morning that we've actually gotten inside another school in Hardin County which is a another feather in our cap I think last year we awarded 55 recipients so I'm very happy with that progress we do a high school and college scholarships um let's see I think we awarded six last year which has kind of been the stable number that we've maintained for several years we do a recycling projects throughout the county I think we have some in James T Alton and some of y'all's districts and uh tree seedling giveaway that's always a very popular one we've already been getting calls for April and we've made our requests from the tree farms and hopefully we get all that we requested and hopefully we'll be able to make sure everybody has something that they want out of that uh we sponsor the 4-H FFA youth project completion show at
- 10:53
the county fair every year that's just another place where all the animals come out there and the students show off their hard work over the year and we're proud to be a sponsor of that we sponsor two campers for the conservation camps two campers for the 4-H camps we also have sponsored recently a seasonal High tunnel at Meadowview in Radcliff we're very excited about that project they've done an excellent job with that and I'm hoping to keep that project moving forward we sponsor and support Central Hardin High School land judging teams we sent one team out there to uh I think it was an Oklahoma that right in Oklahoma City yeah so they did a pretty good job competing against Nationwide teams so we sponsored the farm City day advertising material for the rain gauges notebooks Clips ink pens pencils coloring books and crayons which I'll be uh always end up giving away the rest of those at the back to school bash every year and then last but not least we sponsored the progressive safety today so I'm happy to uh answer any questions regarding the compensating rate or activities we are involved in or any activities we could be involved in I'm always available for that so comments questions all right well thank you I appreciate