Hopkinsville City Council voted to leave the property tax rate the same while approving an increase to Hopkinsville Solid Waste trash collection rates at Tuesday’s meeting.
Due to new property assessments, keeping the property tax rates the same actually resulted in a decrease of 0.1 cents—the tax rates for real property and personal property are at 23.9 cents per $100 of assessed value. Using that rate, the calculated revenue from it is projected to be approximately $5.1 million.
There was concern over the increase to the Hopkinsville Solid Waste residential trash collection rates, specifically for the ‘economy’ customers—their rates would have increased from $12.17 to $25.00, the most sizable increase, in an attempt to create flat rates across the board. Council member Travis Martin says he heard from many customers who are on fixed incomes that wouldn’t be able to afford such a jump, so they developed a gradual increase to take place over the next few years instead of all at once.
Council member Phillip Brooks put forth the motion to amend the ordinance, saying that the ‘economy’ customers would see a gradual $4.37 increase to the rate beginning in fiscal year 2022.
Following much discussion and some debate, the amended ordinance was passed on a 10-to-2 vote, with members Alethea West and Chuck Crabtree voting ‘no.’ The other two rate increases, to apartments and residential, are currently set to go into effect on October 1 at a rate of $25.00. This counts as a new first-reading of the rates, due to the amendment to the ordinance, meaning it will need to be read and voted on once again before becoming effective.