Christian Fiscal Court passed a reduced property tax rate at Tuesday morning’s meeting, and heard an update from the Human Rights Commission.
Before getting to their agenda, magistrates heard from Tammie VanBuren during citizen’s participation, on behalf of the Hopkinsville Historic Community and concerning the likely demolition of the old Treasurer’s Office on Weber Street. She made a plea to magistrates to reconsider that course of action, saying a city’s historic building are a tangible connection to the past and people still have much to learn from this longstanding landmark.
For another year, magistrates voted to lower the tax rate on real property on first-reading, this time voting to lower it from 17.6 cents to 16.7 cents per $100 of assessed value, which would generate roughly $8.5 million in revenue.
Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam says he’s proud they’ve been able to lower the rate each year, saying while property value assessments have certainly played a role, it remains a testament to the county’s growth.
The tax rate on motor vehicles and water craft would be 11. 6 cents per $100 of assessed value. A special-called meeting will be held on August 22 to get those rates read and approved on second-reading, where it would then come into effect.
Hopkinsville-Christian County Human Rights Commission Executive-Director Raychel Farmer gave magistrates an update on what’s happening with the commission, saying they’ve start compiling data into monthly reports. She says July was a busy month of complaints for them, and they forwarded several complaints of discrimination against two local employers on to the State Commission.
She says the local commission investigated 38 cases and complaints in the 2024-2025 fiscal year, and they were able to connection numerous individuals to available resources.
In other action, magistrates approved a measure that will allow Judge Gilliam to fill out and sign an application to receive a litter abatement grant.