City Finance Director Johnathan Perkins told commissioners the proposed rate of 26.1 cents is much less than what the rate was more than twenty years ago in fiscal year 1995. At that time the real estate rate was 43.8 cents per $100 assessed value.
Revenue generated by the property tax is the city's second highest revenue source behind the payroll tax.
The commissioners introduced an ordinance later in the meeting setting the real estate and personal property taxes for fiscal year 2019. The city's real estate tax levy is proposed to be set at 26.1 cents per $100 assessed value, a 2.3 percent change as compared to the fiscal year 2018 rate of 25.5 cents.
The city's compensating cate, the rate that would keep the revenue at the same amount as this fiscal year, is 25.1 cents per $100 assessed value. Kentucky Revised Statutes permit a city to adjust the rate upward by not more than 4 percent of the compensating rate. With the proposed 26.1 cents, the city would be taking the 4 percent allowed by KRS.
Recently, the Paducah Independent School District voted to set its tax rate at 84 cents per $100 of assessed value which is up from last year's 79.7 cents. The city collects the school tax but passes the funds along to the district.
In other actions, Greg Carlton and D.J. Story with Peel & Holland along with Human Resources Director Martin Russell provided an overview of the City of Paducah’s 2019 health insurance plan through Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield as the city’s third party administrator. Those who participate in the City’s health plan will have no change to their health insurance premiums as compared to this current year.
The city has maintained the same health insurance premium rates since 2013 which they noted is quite unusual and an indication of the good management of the health plan and the city’s dedication to employee wellness. The dental rates will increase 3 percent with a 3.5 percent increase to the vision plan. This is a self-insured health insurance plan which means the premiums paid into the plan by the employees are used to pay the claims.
The commissioners also approved a motion to apply for the National Park Service African-American Civil Rights Grant on behalf of the Hotel Metropolitan. "This is the first in our hopes of securing grants for this incredible community gem," said Planning Director Tammara Tracy. The grant request is for $50,000 and would be used to amend the Hotel Metropolitan's current National Register of Historic Places designation to expand it to include another building. No local match is required for the grant.
In other commission business, the board:
• Approved municipal orders authorizing and declaring the sale of the following city-owned surplus properties: 222 Ashbrook Avenue–James and Sandra Faulkner submitted a $2500 bid for the property with plans to renovate the home; and 1131 Flournoy Street – Cameron Brewer submitted a $450 bid for this vacant lot which is adjacent to his property.
• Approved accepting the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s Kentucky Office of Highway Safety grant award in the amount of $25,050. The funds will be used by the Paducah Police Department to reimburse the department for traffic enforcement activities.
• Approved an ordinance introduced for the partial street closure of DAV Drive also known as Green Street. The adjacent property owner Mid-South Energy Properties, LLC requested the closure which received a positive recommendation from the Paducah Planning Commission. The commission will vote on this ordinance on Oct. 9.
• And, heard from Randy Beeler, with Sons of the Confederate Veterans of Paducah, who said he and his group still want to find a resolution to their situation before the upcoming Veterans Day Parade. A parade board meeting, which will be a working, closed meeting to the public will be held on Thursday, Oct. 4. Beeler asked for the commission to rescind the resolution it passed last year and he and his group would not ask to be in the parade. Mayor Brandi Harless said the board passed a resolution stating that one of six armed forces flags are to be flown during the Veterans Day Parade and said those are the rules. But she told Beeler the commission has never said his group could not be a part of the parade. They can be, as long as one of the six designated flags is flown.
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