Lawrence court Adopts tax rates during special meeting

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

LOUISA — The Lawrence County Fiscal Court approved tax rates during a special meeting Monday morning, with Lawrence County Judge Phillip Carter not present and Magistrate Rick Blackburn presiding. Kentucky’s tax rate is 12.20 cents for real estate. Lawrence County set its tax rate at 16.40 cents for real estate and 16.80 cents for tangible property. The Lawrence County School District set its rate at 58 cents for real estate and 59.60 cents for tangible property. The Lawrence County Public Library tax rate is 14.30 cents for real estate and 14.70 cents for tangible property. The tax rate for the Lawrence County Health District is 6 cents for real estate and 6 cents for tangible property. The Lawrence County Extension tax rate is 7.57 cents for real estate and 10.91 cents for tangible property, while the Lawrence County Soil Conservation District’s rate of 2.40  cents for real estate. The Louisa Area Fire & Rescue rate is 3 cents for real estate, and Lawrence County Fire Protection is 3 cents per acre. During last week’s regular meeting, Lawrence County Judge Executive Phillip Carter said the library’s tax rate was too high and that it needed to be reduced. The fiscal court asked whether anyone was present to represent the library at Monday’s special meeting, but no one was present. County Attorney Mike Hogan said at last week’s meeting that he thought the legislature changed the law to allow fiscal courts to refuse to accept tax rates. But after researching the issue, Hogan said at Monday’s meeting that the new legislation does not take effect until January 2021.The fiscal court unanimously authorized the PVA to not print any tax bill under $10.The schedule of tax collection dates was also made available at the meeting. For those who pay between Oct. 15 and Nov. 15, there will be a 2 percent discount. For those paying between Nov. 16-Dec. 31, taxpayers will pay the face amount, and for those paying Jan. 1, 2021, through Jan. 31, 2021, there will also be a 5 percent penalty. For those paying between Feb. 1,2021 and April 15, 2021, there will be a 21 percent penalty assessed. In other business during Monday’s special meeting, the court unanimously approved a resolution and agreement between the county and Rural Municipal Aid, which Blackburn said pertains to flex money.