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Fiscal Court moves to keep tax rates flat

The Daviess County Fiscal Court is looking to keep tax rates flat for another year.

At Thursday’s meeting, commissioners heard the first reading on two ordinances: the first relating to the adoption of property tax rates and the second concerning the occupational and net profits license fees.

“We actually lowered the property tax rate from 13.5 cents per $100 of valuation to 13.4 cents,” explained Judge-Executive Al Mattingly.  “In effect, we took the compensating rate, which will bring in approximately the same amount of revenue as last year.”

“As many of you are aware, property values took a big jump,” he added.  “That necessitated us lowering the rate.”

Mattingly said the Court understands the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.  And that’s a big reason they’ve decided to hold off on a planned increase in the occupational and net profits license fees.

“We believe we can leave the occupational tax rate the same at 0.7 percent,” Mattingly said.  “It was due to increase to 1.0 percent on January 1, 2021.”

The amended ordinance delays the increase for a full year to January 1, 2022.  It’s expected to be approved at the next Fiscal Court meeting on September 17th.

“I think in looking at the whole picture, the Court can manage expenses to compensate for any shortfall that might happen,” added County Treasurer Jim Hendrix.  “I think they can manage through an additional year without any significant negative impact.”

In other news:

The Court appointed members for the Confederate Monument Relocation Committee.  Aloma Dew will serve as the Chair, as directed by the Judge/Executive.  Other committee members include: Wesley Acton (Judge/Executive appointee), Kenny Barr (West County appointee), Anne Damron (Central County appointee) and Tim Kline (East County appointee).

A Repetitive Loss Data Sharing Agreement was approved relating to flood insurance.

Trott Communications will perform project management for the implementation of a new county radio system.  The contract covers inspection, testing of all stages of installation and verification of invoicing from the vendor.  The county will be upgrading from a legacy VHF radio system to P-25 digital.  Motorola was previously selected as the primary vendor.

Commissioners also awarded bids for equipment at the road department and landfill, a van for the coroner’s office, parking lot sealing/striping, and two weather sirens.

The Court approved the following appointments and promotions:

  • Hire Matthew Forrester as Firefighter/EMT
  • Promote Jacob Vanover to Fire Department Engineer
  • Promote Barry Dennis to Service Technician/Road Department
  • Promote Warren Goetz to Service Technician/Road Department
  • Appoint Brandon Gentry to Dental Clinic Board
  • Appoint Laura Muhlenburg to Regional Airport Board
  • Appoint Ted Lolley to Regional Airport Board

The next meeting of the Daviess County Fiscal Court will be Thursday, September 17th at 5 p.m.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the courtroom is closed to the public.  Click here to access the live stream and submit public comments on the page.

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