Insurance Premium Tax

LANCASTER - Despite getting the hospital debt paid off early, Garrard County taxpayers will not yet see a relief on their insurance premium taxes, the Fiscal Court said Monday. That is because of a Kentucky statute that only allows insurance premiums to be adjusted once a year, on July 1.  “I thought, 'there's no way this can be true,'” said Magistrate Joe Leavell, noting he called the Department of Insurance in Frankfort, which confirmed it couldn't be dropped. According to the statute, the Fiscal Court would have to pass an ordinance repealing the tax 100 days before July 1 and notify the Kentucky Department of Insurance.

Danville Health and Rehab plans carnival Danville Centre for Health and Rehabilitation Center will hold a Camp 4 A Cure Carnival event 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday at the center, 642 N. Third St., Danville. The event will include games, food, dunking booth and inflatables. The schedule includes a pet parade at 1 p.m.; singing by Robert Simmons and Family at 3 p.m.; and square dancing by the Constitution Squares at 5 p.m. The event is aimed to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer's disease.

Two local aircraft owners took their protest over Junction City's annexation of the Danville-Boyle County Airport and its taxation of planes there to Boyle County Fiscal Court on Tuesday night. Although some magistrates expressed sympathy for the plane owners' cause, the court took no action. Tim Rice, owner of Symbiotix in Danville, and Mike Perros, a local stockbroker, asked Danville City Commission on Monday to act immediately to have Junction City's annexation of the airport set aside.

The city of Nicholasville's finances are in good shape, according to an independent auditor's report presented at the Dec. 21 Nicholasville City Commission meeting. Mayor Russ Meyer credited the soundness of the city's financial situation to solid management by its leaders. "It reaffirms what we've been stating on how we've turned the budget around in the last couple years," he said. The audit, which was performed by the Lexington-based Moore Stephens Potter, LLP, showed the city's utility department program revenues, both operating and non-operating revenues, increased by more than $2.8 million over fiscal year 2006, which ran from July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006.

The Winchester Board of Commissioners wrapped up several weeks of budget work Tuesday, passing a final $19 million spending plan that includes new personnel positions, new capital purchases and employee raises in the 2008-09 fiscal year. In a second reading, commission members unanimously supported a plan that allocates $13.6 million toward general fund expenditures and another $4.8 million in the capital fund. Expenses are projected to exceed revenue in the general fund by about $1.2 million, but officials also project that the capital fund revenues will outpace expenses by nearly $95,000 next year.

As candidates face the final stretch of the 2006 election season, the battle for Clark County judge-executive has garnered attention for both public resignations and disagreements over spending and taxes. Democratic challenger Henry Branham resigned his post as county treasurer in July after winning a primary nod and expressing a desire to ramp up his campaign efforts. Since then, the candidate has heavily criticized the county's financial strategy and suggested the county focus more on long-term goals.

Tuesday night, the Stanford City Council was split evenly over whether or not to approve a budget proposed by Mayor Bill Miracle that included $5,000 of funding to support further construction for the Logan’s Fort project. Miracle came to the meeting armed with two budgets that had passed a first reading just the night before, one that included money for the fort and one that did not.  Originally, $10,000 had been proposed for the fort, but Miracle had to reduce that amount by half to garner enough support to get the budget passed the first reading.

Thomas consultant questions expenses of county attorney To the Editor: Earlier this year, I submitted an open records request to Clark County Attorney Gardner D. Wagers. In this request I specifically sought detailed accounting of questionable spending practices by Mr. Wagers. This request was for a period beginning with the time he became county attorney in January 1999. This request was made after having seen an abundance of Gardner D. Wagers imprinted specialty advertising items, which appeared to have been paid for with public resources.

The Clark County Fiscal Court approved an agreement with the Winchester Board of Commissioners to share tax revenues from the current and new hospital sites, a move Clark County Judge-Executive Henry Branham described as putting another piece of the puzzle in place for the community. “To me this is more than this agreement, it's more than just the money,” Branham said. “It's the whole idea of collaboration and cooperation that we're fostering in this community, and I think it's part of our strategic plan, part of our community action plan, and I think we're putting this together and it's going to benefit this community greatly.

LANCASTER - The same magistrate who made the motion for a 1 percent occupational tax called for its elimination at Tuesday's Garrard Fiscal Court meeting. After hearing from dozens of people opposed to the tax that took effect July 1, Magistrate Joe Leavell made a motion to sell the county farm to help pay off the debt at Garrard County Memorial Hospital and its Long Term Care Facility. Leavell said the farm's sale could bring the county $450,000, enough to make payments on the Kentucky Association of Counties loan this year and buy time to consider other options for paying off all of the hospital debt.