Hearing held to discuss tax increase

By AMBER DILLEY
Glasgow Daily Times

GLASGOW August 29, 2008 11:05 am

— The Barren County Board of Education had a public hearing Thursday evening to discuss the new property tax rates that will be voted on next month.
The board proposed that tax rates be increased to either 55.6 cents or 56.5 cents per $100 assessed value.
The current rate is 55.5 cents per $100 assessed value.
Sarah Vincent, finance officer for the Barren County School District, said there are two tax rate options because the board hasn’t decided which amount to implement.
“We had to file it both ways for the hearing,” Vincent said.
She said the board needs to raise taxes, despite cutting as much as they could from this school year’s budget.
“We cut $367,000 from this year’s budget,” she said.
Members of the community spoke out about the proposed increase.
Roger Hogan said he’s against the increase.
“I’ve got two kids out of college who are trying to buy houses, but the tax rate is too high,” Hogan said. “They can’t afford it.”
If the 55.6-cent rate passes, the taxes on a $100,000 home would be $556. For the 56.5-cent tax rate, the taxes on a $100,000 home would be $565.