The Hardin County Fiscal Court met for their second meeting of the month Tuesday.
The fiscal court voted to advance two ordinances from first to second reading, the first which updates the creation of an industrial taxing district and payment of a special ad valorem tax related to anticipated development spurred by industry such as BlueOval SK, and the second which updates the occupational tax within the industrial and commercial taxing district.
Judge-Executive Keith Taul said there is never a good time to increase taxes, but with the county responsible for providing services to residents it is a necessary investment.
“Honestly, I hate it,” Taul said. “I don’t want to do it, but it is, I believe, the responsible thing to do.”
Magistrate Chris Yates said the tax is unfortunate but necessary.
“When you call 911, you want the sheriff’s department to be out there ASAP,” Yates said. “When you call for an ambulance, you want them there yesterday, and at that time you wouldn’t put a price tag on your family, so this is the necessary thing to do to ensure that we have the resources available to you guys.”
Larry Hicks was the only magistrate to vote against the ordinances. Hicks said he was not comfortable putting an extra burden on taxpayers, and had concerns with the recently announced delay of the opening of BlueOval SK’s second plant.
“How many more times is BlueOval going to back up?” said Hicks. “It’s 5,000, then it was 2,500, and the latest I’ve heard maybe 1,000, so do we have to do this right now? I’m not against doing this if it’s needed, but I’m not sold on it’s needed right now.”
The ordinances, which can be viewed on the county’s website, will go up for a vote at the next fiscal court meeting.
In other meeting news, Hardin County Jailer Josh Lindblom reported that the Hardin County Detention Center took in 476 inmates during the month of October while 481 were released, and inmates worked more than 13,000 hours, resulting in more than $81,000 in savings for the county.
The Hardin County Fiscal Court will next meet December 12.
