by Tony Fyffe

PAINTSVILLE — Papers were filed last week in the Johnson County Clerk's Office that begins a process that would ultimately allow voters to decide whether to keep or repeal the county school board's recent property tax rate increase.

A five-member recall committee filed an affidavit last Wednesday in the clerk's office that indicates a petition will be submitted requesting a public vote on the issue.

The affidavit says the tax hike approved by the county school board Sept. 22 exceeds the maximum increase allowed by law and is subject to a recall vote.

The board voted to raise the property tax rate from 36.9 cents per $100 of assessed property value to 45.3 cents, with 5.7 cents subject to voter recall. A proposal to raise the rate to 56.6 cents was rejected by the board prior to approval of the lower rate.

The affidavit says the rate exceeds the 4 percent compensating rate allowed by law.

Members of the recall committee are Janice Hammond, Loretta Belhasen, Todd Conley, Lynn Turner and Todd Meade, according to the affidavit.

KRS 132.017 sets out the procedures for filing a petition requesting a recall election. The statute says that within 45 days of the passage of the rate increase, five "qualified voters who reside in the area where the tax levy will be imposed may commence petition proceedings to protest the passage" of the increase. The five eligible voters "constitute the petition committee," the statute says, and are responsible for circulating and properly filing the petition.

The petition, which must be filed within 45 days of the passage of the increase, must be signed "by a number of registered and qualified voters residing in the affected jurisdiction equal to at least ten percent (10%) of the total number of votes cast in the last preceding presidential election," the statute says.

County Clerk Sallee Ann Holbrook said Monday that valid 904 signatures will be needed on the petition, which must be filed by Nov. 6.

Once the petition is filed, Holbrook is required to notify the school board that it has been received and has 30 days to "make a determination of whether the petition contains enough signatures of qualified voters to place the ordinance, order, resolution, or motion before the voters," the statute says.

If she finds that the petition is "insufficient," she has within the 30-day period to notify the petition committee and the school board in writing of the "specific deficiencies found," according to the statute.

"A final determination of the sufficiency of a petition shall be the subject to final review by the Circuit Court of the county in which the local governmental entity or district board of education is located, and shall be limited to the validity of the county clerk's determination," the statute says. "Any petition challenging the county clerk's final determination shall be filed within ten (10) days of the issuance of the clerk's final determination."

The statute also says that the school board "may cause the cancellation of the election by reconsidering" its vote on the tax increase, the statute says.