Park Hills keeps tax rate same as last year

PARK HILLS – Not a single resident turned out Tuesday evening for a public hearing on the proposed tax rate and the Park Hills City Council proceeded without comment to keep the rate the same as it was last year.

Owners of real estate in the city will again pay 68.4 cents per $100 assessed valuation on their property. The tax rate is computed annually on the basis of revenue generated the previous year by the property tax.

After setting the tax rate and discussing the current year’s street improvement program, the council was then given a brief summary of the status of budget preparation by City Administrator John Kennedy.

“There have been only a few changes since the last figures were presented to you,” Kennedy said, referring to a special budget meeting the previous week. “We are still quite a way from finished on some items.”

Kennedy said he had taken all the raises and promotions out of the current budget draft, but that is not to say there will be no raises. It has been the standard practice in the budget process to consider raises after all other aspects of the budget have been finalized. That way, officials said, the council will know how much they have to work with.

“I don’t see a need for any lengthy discussions about the budget tonight,” Kennedy told the council. “We will have more to work with soon.”

It is anticipated there will be further discussion of the budget at the council’s regular meeting on Sept. 14 and final action is tentatively scheduled for a special session on Sept. 21. The new budget must be in place by the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1.

After the meeting Tuesday, Kennedy said the current figures show the budget draft $150,000 in the red, but he noted that is misleading. Those numbers include a $175,000 loan the city is making to the Special Road District for construction of the new 7th Street bridge. That is money the city will be getting back.

“Take that out of there and we are actually slightly in the black,” Kennedy noted.

The city administrator said there are also other figures to be adjusted in the draft that will affect the final numbers.

As it stood Tuesday night, Kennedy said, the draft budget totals approximately $7.1 million for the coming year. That is about the same amount approved by the council for the current fiscal year.