Fiscal Court Gets Broadband Update, Okays New Tax Rate
Fiber-optic cable in a Telstra duct. Image: Bidgee via Wikimedia Commons.
Robert Moore
Herald Staff
[email protected]
On Tuesday, the Mercer County Fiscal Court received an update from Phillip Brown, director of government affairs for Kentucky for All Points Broadband about the $26 million project to deliver internet service to 3,332 unserved houses and businesses.
Brown last appeared before the fiscal court in December 2024, when he informed them that All Points and the state had resolved their issues and the utility provider would begin design work and prepare for hanging fiber.
He said All Points had finalized and submitted the environmental review and were moving from high level to field level design, which included surveying the area. Brown said the next step is field validated phase, in which construction drawings would be submitted to contractors. He said the provider had already met with the prime construction contractor and discussed the project. The contractor wants to attend a meeting with the fiscal court to talk about the permitting process, he said.
All Points would need to attach fiber optic cable to more than 5,000 poles spread across three different owners to connect the unserved areas of Mercer County, Brown said. He said they are taking a hard look to see if they can go underground rather than attach to poles. If All Points could reclaim time at roughly the same cost by directional boring, that might be a better option than running cable, he said.
“Directional boring is not as deep,” Brown explained. “We’re not digging a whole trench.”
“We’re going to maybe dogleg around that problem,” Brown said. “We feel very good with where we are.”
The project involves hanging 301 miles of cable to deliver reliable internet service. The state will contribute $16 million towards the cost of the project while All Points will contribute $9.5 and the fiscal court is responsible for $1.4 million.
All Points first approached the fiscal court about expanding internet service in Mercer County in March 2022. After receiving bids from All Points and AT&T, the fiscal court entered into a formal agreement with All Points in June 2022. There is also another project to connect every home in the nation, the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. That program is making more than $40 billion available to states. The Mercer County project is not part of that funding.
“There is a lot going on in broadband right now,” Brown said.
Judge-Executive Sarah Steele said the county road department is working with the construction company to identify rights-of-way.
The deadline to complete the project is still Dec. 31, 2026. Asked when construction would start, Brown said, “Everything goes very quick.” He said he’d look into All Points’ ballpark estimate and get back to the magistrates.
All Points also has a website for people with questions about the construction process. It’s available at allpointsbroadband.com/fiber-construction.
The magistrates adopted a new tax rate for real estate for the 2026 fiscal year. On Tuesday, the fiscal court voted unanimously to adopt the compensating rate of 11.6 per $100 in accessed value. That is down from 12.1 per $100, the rate the magistrates selected last year, which was down from 12.6 per $100 for the year before.
The new rate is the compensating rate, which is calculated by the state to generate roughly the same revenue as last year’s rate. Evaluations are up so tax rate goes down to bring. Judge Steele recommended the fiscal court choose the compensating rate, saying “constituents are taking a hard hit.” The rates of 18.31 for tangible personal property and inventory and 9.2 for vehicles and watercraft remain unchanged.
Magistrate Kevin Hicks moved to accept the new rate, seconded by Magistrate Tim Darland. The motion passed unanimously.
