Hopkinsville City Council backed away from its plan to approve a business license tax increase on final reading Thursday night.
Ward 6 Councilman Wendell Lynch, who is currently serving as the council’s presiding officer and will be sworn in as interim mayor on Sunday, began Thursday’s special meeting by announcing he wanted to delay final action on the tax.
“I want to take a little closer look at this,” Lynch said. He announced he would be appointing a special committee in March to study the proposed tax increase.
Lynch acknowledged that he and other council members had been contacted by numerous constituents after approving the tax increase on first reading Tuesday night.
The council voted unanimously to delay a vote on the business tax.
In a 8-to-4 vote, the council had agreed Tuesday to increase the city’s business license tax from 1.5% to 1.95% on net profits, while also eliminating the $10,000 cap that’s currently in place on the business tax. It’s estimated the business tax increase would generate an additional $1.24 million in the next fiscal year that begins on July 1.
Another tax increase that the council had approved Tuesday did receive final approval Thursday. The Hopkinsville Water Environment Authority PILOT, or payment in lieu of taxes, measure was approved with 7 votes in favor and 5 opposed.
That measure creates a 2% tax on gross revenue from the HWEA’s sale of water and sewer service in the city limits. The increase will generate about $310,000 annually, city officials have estimated.
Voting in favor of the PILOT tax were Darvin Adams, Kimberly McCarley, Don Ahart, Amy Craig, Patricia Bell, Phillip Brooks and Lynch. Voting against it were Paul Henson, Terry Parker, Tom Johnson, Jimmy Dossett and Jason Bell.
(Jennifer P. Brown is the editor and founder of Hoptown Chronicle. Reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org.)
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
