Insurance Premium Tax

LIBERTY - A temporary fix to solve Casey County's stray cat and dog problems was put in place Monday by the Fiscal Court. The court agreed to contract with Taylor County Animal Shelter in Campbellsville to take stray animals at a cost of $7,500 per year. The action came after several people voiced their views on why the county needs an animal shelter and animal control officer and why Fiscal Court should not pay $70,000 for the project. Gary Daugherty, a local resident, questioned Kirk Kelly, executive director of Casey County Animal Rescue Enforcement, about the proposed shelter that would cost the county more than $70,000.

NAMI to hold vigil The Danville chapter of the National Alliance of Mental Illness will hold a candlelight vigil 7 p.m. Monday at the gazebo at the Boyle County Courthouse. The vigil will be moved to Trinity Episcopal Church in case of inclement weather. Congress established the first week of October as Mental Illness Awareness Week in 1990 with the goal of ending the stigma associated with mental illness, ensuring better understanding of mental health issues and improving access to diagnosis and treatment.

Garrard County Judge-executive John Wilson has some ideas for what to do with the money being collected through the insurance premium tax, which was originally instituted to pay off the debt on the old hospital, a debt that is now paid.  During the Garrard County Fiscal Court meeting on Monday night, Wilson expressed his wish to use the money toward an endowment to which organizations in the county could apply for funds. “This would be a gift from the taxpayers, to the taxpayers,” he said.

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.

Getting across the viaduct over the railroad tracks in Danville between Main Street and Perryville Road, either on foot or by bicycle, is always an adventure. There's something about traffic whizzing by so closely, even at the speed limit. Not much can be done about that. But walkers and cyclists will welcome improvements on both sides. Danville City Commission made a wise choice Monday when it decided to forego the relocation of a Rockcastle River bridge (a no-brainer, really)

Taxation imposed by Junction City on aircraft at Stuart Powell Field could lead to the loss of those planes at the airport and ultimately end the airport's usefulness to area business and industry. That's what aircraft owners Mike Perros and Tim Rice told the Danville-Boyle County Economic Development Partnership on Wednesday. They came before the EDP board in hopes of involving board members in conversations with the Junction City Council in an effort to convince the council members that the property taxes and tax on insurance premiums would reduce the quality and value of aircraft and ultimately cost jobs in the region.

The Winchester Board of Commissioners received a first draft of the city's $13 million budget Tuesday along with warnings that overspending could cause financial troubles in coming years. The 2007-08 spending plan so far includes a 3 percent across-the-board raise for city employees, increases funding for police and fire-EMS services, an anticipates a 4 percent increase in property tax revenue - the maximum that commissioners can approve without facing a recall. It also trims funding for special programs and anticipates lower health care costs.

Few would argue that the Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency of the Bluegrass doesn't need funding. The organization serves 215 residents in Winchester, making sure seniors have proper medication, identifying concerns like bed sores and providing a friend for the lonely and forgotten. In the Bluegrass region, the program investigated 49 complaints of mistreatment just last year. As the program's board member John Rompf recently wrote in a letter to the Winchester Board of Commissioners, "All of this is only possible through funding we receive from the city, along with other community contributions.

City Manager Ken Kerns warned that a severe fiscal crisis is looming if expenditures continue to outpace revenues in coming years as he presented a $19 million draft budget to the Winchester Board of Commissioners on Tuesday. The 2008-09 budget proposal includes a $13.7 million general fund, in which spending is expected to exceed revenue by more than $1.5 million, leaving the city with only $1.8 million in reserve. Commission policy calls for a minimum $2 million reserve. In a memo to the commission, Kerns noted that fiscal year 2008-09 will mark the seventh year in a row that projected expenditures exceed projected revenues in the general fund and called on the commission to develop a long-range plan for financial belt-tightening and revenue growth.

After weeks of discussion, the Winchester Board of Commissioners passed a $19 million budget Thursday, planning for salary increases, new personnel and several new capital expenditures in the 2008-09 fiscal year. Commissioners unanimously supported the spending plan, which includes a $13.6 million general fund and a $4.8 million capital fund. Although spending is projected to exceed revenue in the general fund by about $1.2 million, officials project the capital fund will end the year with nearly $95,000 of excess revenue.