Paducah City Commission Highlights for Tuesday's meeting

City Commission Meeting Highlights
Tuesday, September 22, 2020 at 5:30 p.m.
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Note:  Due to the COVID-19 situation and the need to maintain social distancing, all members of the Paducah Board of Commissioners participated by video and/or audio conferencing. 
 
Property Tax Levy for FY2021 – Keeping Same Tax Rate as FY2020
The Paducah Board of Commissioners approved an ordinance setting the real estate and personal property tax rates for fiscal year 2021.  The City’s real estate tax levy is set at 26.7 cents per $100 assessed value, the same rate as last year (fiscal year 2020).  This ordinance also outlines the payment date requirements.  Tax bills that are less than $900.00 are due without penalty and interest until November 30, 2020.  For bills that are greater than $900.00, the owner may split the bill in half with the first half due on November 30 without penalty and interest and the second half due on February 28, 2021, without penalty and interest.
 
The City’s Compensating Rate, the rate that keeps the revenue at the same amount as FY2020, is 26.3 cents per $100 assessed value.  Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) permits a city to adjust the rate upward by not more than 4 percent of the compensating rate.  With the 26.7 cents, the City is taking a rate that is 1.5% more than the compensating rate.  Since the City’s proposed tax levy is more than the compensating rate, a public hearing was required.  It was held September 8.  
 
The rate of 26.7 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.  The revenue generated by the property tax is the City’s second highest revenue source behind the payroll tax. 
 
At this meeting, the Board also introduced an ordinance authorizing the City to collect taxes for the Paducah Independent School District.  The Paducah School District set its property tax levee at the same rate as Fiscal Year 2020 at 86.4 cents per $100 of assessed value. 
 
Purchase of Property Located at 2640 South 24th Street to Improve Stormwater Management
The Paducah Board of Commissioners approved an ordinance for the purchase of property at 2640 South 24th Street in the amount of $8000.  This floodplain property is adjacent to the newly rehabilitated South 24th Street Bridge.  The City plans to remove the structure on the property and grade the land to improve the area’s stormwater drainage, stormwater storage capability, and management.  Over the past several weeks, Jim Smith Contracting has been working on the project to replace the bridge which is more than 50 years old.  This bridge over Cross Creek between Seitz Street and Center Street had been damaged from flooding especially in 2018.  The new bridge is wider to accommodate ADA-compliant sidewalks.  The City is receiving FEMA funds to assist with the bridge project. 
 
Quick Highlights

• Municipal order approved for the purchase of solid waste dumpsters in an amount not to exceed $130,000 from Municipal Equipment, Inc. using the Kentucky State Contract.
• Municipal order approved for the purchase of nine police pursuit-ready SUVs in the amount of $334,929 from Linwood Motors.
• Municipal order approved for the purchase of two pickup trucks in the amount of $53,600 from Linwood Motors to be used by the Street Division.
• Municipal order approved accepting the Law Enforcement Protection Program grant in the amount of $11,305.  These funds will be used to purchase body armor vests for the Police Department.  No local match is required.
• Ordinance approved for the final annexation for three parcels: 1815 Olivet Church Road and 6215 Blandville Road as requested by the property owners and 5269 Hinkleville Road which contains an abandoned home.  The total area to be annexed is 8.6 acres.  The intent to annex was approved in June 2020.