The Hopkinsville City Council Committee of the Whole forwarded on a measure Thursday night that would decrease property tax rates to the lowest level in at least 32 years, but it will still create a four-percent increase in revenue due to reassessments of real property in the city limits.
Chief Financial Officer Robert Martin says it’s only the third time in the last 20 years this scenario has played out and the tax rate on real property would decrease from 23.9 to 22.5 cents per $100 of assessed value under the proposal that was sent to Hopkinsville City Council for first reading.
The rates on personal property and vehicles would remain the same under the ordinance.
Councilmembers Chuck Crabtree and Terry Parker voted no on the measure.
Meanwhile, Solid Waste Enterprise General Manager Tony Sicari gave an update on his attempt to save the city’s recycling program.
There have been only 22 new customers sign up for voluntary curbside recycling since there was talk of discontinuing the program earlier this year, but efforts are ramping up in various ways to increase that number.
Sicari says they will push on for the next few months and he expects to give another update on their plan as soon as October.
There are currently about 740 accounts signed up for recycling in Hopkinsville paying $5.50 per month. A preliminary proposal in the committee’s packet that was not voted on would raise that rate to $15.50 monthly until they are able to increase their subscribers to more than 2,500 accounts to keep the program solvent and the rate would then go down as more people subscribe.
Anyone wanting to sign up for curbside recycling in Hopkinsville should call the Solid Waste Enterprise at 270-887-2786.