An affidavit to petition has officially been filed with the Christian County Clerk’s Office as of Friday afternoon to recall the tax rate recently passed by the Christian County School Board at their August 17 meeting.
The group Citizens Right to Vote On Tax Increases has filed the paperwork, contending the rate set by the board is above the four percent allowable by the Kentucky Revised Statutes. That makes it eligible for public vote, if the group can gain the number of signatures required to put it on a ballot for the general public to vote for or against.
At a meeting on August 17, the board set a rate of 42.2 cents per $100 of assessed value for real estate and 42.8 cents per $100 for personal property, which was the same rate as the previous year. The compensating rate was 40.5 cents on real property and 40.5 cents on personal property.The compensating tax rate allows a taxing district the same tax revenue that was produced in the preceding year.
Mark Graham, who heads up the group, says their efforts will be similar to the process they undertook to recall the Nickel Tax that was passed by the board in 2019. Those efforts were ultimately successful, with the Nickel Tax placed on the ballot for citizens to vote on—it would fail by a wide margin, with the bulk of voters voting against it.
The number of required signatures is 10 percent of the total voters who turned out for the last presidential election, so the group will need to collect roughly 2,400 signatures, as 23,978 individuals voted in the 2020 November General Election. They have 30 days to gather the required number of signatures.
Christian County Public School Director of Communications Johnna Brown says the board is aware of the petition the recall the tangible property rate and at this time, no decision has been made and they are exploring their options.