Citizens File To Recall School Tax Rate
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Robert Moore
Herald Staff
[email protected]
A group of Mercer County residents are seeking to recall the property tax rate.
On Monday, Sept. 22, three Mercer County residents submitted a recall affidavit with Mercer County Clerk Chris Horn’s office.
The affidavit is signed by James Milton Fyffe of Harrodsburg, William Steven Marshall of Salvisa and Wanda Cowan Burgin of Harrodsburg.
On Aug. 19, the Mercer County Board of Education opted to keep the tax rate the same as the last several years, at 71.6 cents per $100.
Due to increasing home values, the district is calculated to take in an additional $622,000 in revenue even with the same tax rate, according to figures provided by Chief Finance Officer Amber Minor.
In the affidavit, Fyffe, Marshall and Burge cited a notice published in the Sept. 11 edition of the Harrodsburg Herald, which said that 3.8 cents of the property tax rate is subject to recall. They maintain the 3.8 cents per $100 in assessed value is in excess of the four-percent increased allowed under state law.
As members of the petition committee, Fyffe, Marshall and Burge would need to collect 1,006 signatures to force a special election. According to the county clerk’s office, the petition committee have until Oct. 19 to collect the necessary signatures.
At a special-called meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 23, the school board discussed the tax rate, but took no further action. Mercer Superintendent Jason Booher maintained that the board had approved keeping the same tax rate as previous year.
Booher took exception to what he said were social media posts that said the board had increased taxes.
“That’s not correct,” Booher said. He said the district had taken the same tax rate for past three years.
Under state law, a portion of the tax rate is recallable. The board is determining their next move with legal counsel.
Last week, the board of education approved a working budget with projected revenue of $32.4 million, which includes a contingency of 20.5 percent.
“We are proud that our school system maintains a very healthy budget and contingency,” Booher said Tuesday. Booher said they were equally proud they could maintain the district’s financial strength.
“You all have done a tremendous job,” Booher told the board members.
One of the petitioners, James Fyffe, was at the special-called meeting. He said the tax rate constituted a 39 percent increase in new revenue, over the four percent allowed by state law.
Fyffe said he and the other petitioners intend to “give the voters to opportunity to say if they want to pay increased taxes.”
