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August 28, 2009

Votes in favor of recallable nickle tax

By LISA SIMPSON STRANGE The Glasgow Daily Times Fri Aug 28, 2009, 11:03 AM CDT

GLASGOW — Members of the Glasgow School Board voted to take a 4 percent increase in revenue, which will raise the tax rate for both real and personal property, as well as an additional recallable nickel to improve bonding potential, during Wednesday night’s special-called meeting.

Increasing bonding capacity is an essential component in the board’s plan to fund improvements and renovations to Glasgow High School.

The rate for the 2009-10 school year will be 72.5 cents per $100 of assessed value for both real estate and tangible property, up from 70.4 cents per $100 for both in 2008-09. Add 5.6 cents per $100, which is the equivalency amount for the nickel, and the total comes to $78.1 cents per $100 for each. The owner of a $100,000 home in Glasgow would pay $781 in taxes for the school system.

Finance Officer Sue Furlong explained during a public hearing before the meeting that in order to levy the recallable nickel the board had to take the allowable 4 percent increase in the tax rate first.

“In order to levy the recallable nickel we are required by the Kentucky Department of Education to take the 4 percent increase,” Furlong explained Wednesday night. “We cannot take the compensating rate. We have to take the higher 4 percent increase.”

Furlong and superintendent Kathy Goff told board members they had calculated a “ball park” amount of $30 million for unfunded building needs for the district.

At the top of the list is renovation of the high school, which is 45 years old, followed by the addition of preschool classrooms and renovations at South Green Elementary, a school constructed in 1986. The third priority on the district’s list is improving athletic facilities.

Greg Phillips of Hilliard Lyons presented information to the board on the district’s current and potential bonding capacity.

Current yearly debt service for the district is $690,000. This amount will remain the same until 2014 when it drops slightly to $650,000. In 2015, debt service will drop to $5,000.

A summary analysis of current bonding revenues shows a total of $794,133 out of which the debt service is paid leaving just over $100,000 a year.

Before the 4 percent increase and recallable nickel, the district’s estimated total bonding potential was $4.45 million. With the increases, the bonding capacity becomes more than $19 million when taking into account the recallable nickel and equalization by the state.

Ernest Simmons, of Elsie Street, spoke against taking the increase during the public hearing. Simmons, who was one of 19 community members who served on a committee formed earlier this year to research options for funding a new Glasgow High School, balked at having to take a 4 percent increase in order to levy an additional recallable nickel.

With a federal freeze on Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) for two years and increased payments for Medicare D coverage, which covers prescription drug costs, Simmons said, senior citizens on fixed incomes will have an even harder paying their bills.

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