Referendum approved for jail tax

By KEVIN YOUNG

GLASGOW — Members of the Barren Fiscal Court voted on Tuesday in favor of placing a referendum on the May 2010 ballot that would increase county property taxes by five cents per $100 in assessed property value in order to help pay for the new county jail.

Fourth District Magistrate Tommy Matthews proposed the referendum to raise taxes after he said he did not believe the county had enough money to build the jail. He said that money is being taken away from other duties of the fiscal court, such as building and improving roads. The tax increase, if approved, would equate to $50 per year on a $100,000 home.

“I’ve been on this court for 19 years, and in those 19 years every magistrate has always been divided a certain amount of money which they can use for road building and improvements. And for 18 of those 19 years the money has always been there. Last fiscal year this fiscal court did not receive $846,000 in (state funding for ) road maintenance improvement money to this court. That money disappeared. That’s road improvements that aren’t going to happen,” he said.

The vote was seven to one, with Judge-Executive Davie Greer casting the only vote against the tax increase referendum. She said that although she has heard from some residents that a tax increase could pay for the roads, the county needs to use its limited assistance from the state better.

“I have heard a lot of people say that is what we need to do, but the road money does not come from the general budget. I think the whole state is in a lot of trouble, because there is not a lot of extra money to give to counties or anybody else. The money that is given to the county for the roads cannot go anywhere else. It has to be used on the roads,” she said.

Matthews said that the amount of money he has received in his district has decreased since when he began as a magistrate.

“This year I got $47,000 for my district. In 1991 I received $50,000. You cannot keep up the infrastructure of this county and not keep your roads up and make improvements from time to time. You can’t do it. We don’t have the money to take care of our roads, take care of our business at hand everyday. How on earth are we going to pay for a new jail? I don’t think we can with what we’ve got. But we’re going to build one. That’s what this court voted to do,” he said.

Johnny Kinslow, head of the Barren County Road Department, said that he would be in favor of a tax increase if it goes toward road maintenance.

“Adding taxes on is going to help the infrastructure. You’re going to have a nice big jail and you’re going to have potholed roads. It just doesn’t make sense,” he said.

Although the court voted to place the measure on the ballot, County Attorney Jeff Sharp said he was not aware that it would be proposed at the meeting so he had not researched the legality of such a proposal going straight to a ballot.

“I didn’t do any research on this. There are certain statutory ways you can put a referendum on the ballot and I’m not sure that this court can just do this. I’ll research it and let you all know,” he said.

Greer said she believed that Barren County does a good job with its road maintenance and compares well to other counties.

“I really feel like the roads in our county are better than any other county around here,” she said.

Matthews said that residents in the county will be willing to pay higher taxes in order to ensure they have safe and smooth roads.

“If you live out there in that county there’s nothing more important to you than the roads you drive on everyday,” he said.

Magistrate Charles Allen said the issues of funding roads and the jail are separate, but the larger jail would enable the county to make more money, because it will have more capacity to hold state inmates. The jail receives roughly $30 from the state each day for every state inmate incarcerated in the county jail.

“Some of your worries should be eased in that we are going from 117 to 170 inmates, and many of them will be state inmates which (earns the jail) $30 a day,” he said.

He voted in favor of the placing the referendum on the ballot, but he said he would encourage voters to vote against it in May.

“This is not an approval of a tax increase by myself. I firmly believe that we can build this jail and pay for it by the additional prisoners. I know I’m walking out on a plank, but I’m willing to do that because I think that the road problem is separate from the jail problem. Of course it’s all money, but I don’t think the road department money has been used on the jail plan at all. The problem we’re having with the road funding is from somewhere else, it has nothing to do with the jail. But if it gives the people a chance to vote for a tax increase I will, but I recommend that they don’t vote for it,” he said.