Lack of nickel tax cost school district state construction funds, superintendent says
By TONY FYFFE
BSN Editor
LOUISA —The Lawrence County Board of Education will eventually have to revisit the controversial issue of a nickel tax in order to finance construction of a new Louisa West Elementary School, Superintendent Dr. Robbie Fletcher told board members Monday.
The issue popped up during the board’s regular meeting as Fletcher discussed recent funding for several school construction projects across the state in which Lawrence County was not included.
“Of the schools I know, I think there were only two schools that were older than Louisa West. Only two,” Fletcher said. “And the rest of them weren’t really even close as far as age. Now I do believe that our janitors do a great job of keeping that building clean, but still yet it’s a 1954 building.”
Fletcher said the lack of a nickel tax is the reason Lawrence County did not receive any funding.
“That’s the only reason,” he said.
He said state statutes require that school districts have the nickel tax in order to receive matching funds, estimating that Lawrence County “may have missed out on sixteen million dollars being given to us.”
“That nickel tax cost us probably in the neighborhood of sixteen million dollars,” he said, adding that Lawrence County has the lowest tax rate in the 15th Region.
Board chairman Heath Preston said the “most disturbing thing” about the recent funding for construction projects was that “some of these schools weren’t really ready for it.”
“They weren’t ready for the money,” Preston said. “They really didn’t know how to handle it. They were planning on doing other things. And they got millions of dollars just because they have the nickel tax, and that’s just absolutely wrong in so many different ways.”
Minus the nickel tax, the Lawrence County School District’s “best shot” at receiving funding is to get “some kind of exemption status based on population.”
Fletcher agreed, adding, “Now the other decision that this board will have to make in the next year or so is, do we want to try to pursue the nickel tax again? That’s something we’ll have to discuss, you know, how do we want to approach that, if we want to approach it.”
The nickel tax issue was a ballot referendum that was rejected by Lawrence County voters a few years ago.
In action from Monday’s meeting, the board approved claims and orders of the treasurer; the monthly financial report; per diem and expenses for board members; contracts and services; and requests for use of facilities.
Board members also had the first reading of the 2021 annual Kentucky School Board Association (KSBA) policy updates and acknowledged review of the annual KSBA procedure updates.
The board also approved an update to the district’s pay scales/salary schedules to reflect a $5-an-hour increase for lead mechanic and vehicle mechanic II positions.