Nicholasville votes not to raise taxes

Published 9:20 am Thursday, September 13, 2018

The Nicholasville City Commission voted not to increase tax rates for 2019 on motor vehicle, watercraft and real and personal property in a meeting last month.

“We are pleased that we were able to hold our property tax the same as the previous year,” Nicholasville Mayor Peter Sutherland said. “We don’t want to raise people’s taxes, this would be a last resort if we were having a serious shortfall of revenue.

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“In 2009, at the height of the recession, Mayor Meyer and the commissioners along with city employees made some tough decisions and did some serious cuts to our expenses and this has carried over into today.”

With a second reading Aug. 27, ordinance 1033-2018 for watercraft and motor vehicles and 1032-2018 pertaining to property, the tax rate was passed establishing a 19.7 percent tax rate on motor vehicle and watercraft for tax year 2019, and an 18.6 percent tax rate on real and personal property for the tax year 2018 on all items located within the city of Nicholasville.

Under ordinance 1032-2018, the base amount of taxes will be due on or before Oct. 31, with a 10 percent penalty added Nov. 1 and interest of 1 percent per month beginning Jan. 1, 2019.

For payments received on or after March 1, an additional penalty equal to the greater of $75 or 25 percent of the then outstanding amount, including the 10 percent penalty, will be collected.

“We are also fortunate to have a return of growth and development which always helps with revenue,” Sutherland said. “We are seeing a gradual uptick in new businesses and current business growth, which means more net profit revenue and payroll revenue.

“Keeping tax rates the same is beneficial to families because their home and vehicles are the most expensive things they own, when they don’t have to pay more property tax they can use that money for other things.”

Both ordinances were scheduled to take effect after adoption, execution and publication.