By DAVE TAYLOR

The resolution approved by the Trimble County Board of Education on Monday, June 20, levying an additional school tax of 5 cents per $100 of assessed property may be subject to recall by the voters of Trimble County should local citizens pursue a petition campaign to force a special election. Kentucky Revised Statute 132.017 makes provision for such an election, according to materials submitted to The Trimble Banner by Trimble County Clerk Tina Browning.

The nickel tax per $100 of assessed property is separate from a 4 percent Fiscal Year-2016 tax increase approved by the board during its Sept. 2, 2015 regular meeting.

Minutes of that meeting reveal the following: “Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, the motion was made by Scott Burrows and seconded by Tony Walker to adopt for the FY-16 tax year the 4 percent increase rate of 65.70 cents plus a rate of .2 cents for exonerations. The rates will be 65.90 cents for Real Estate, 65.90 cents for Tangibles, 55.40 cents for Motor Vehicles and 3 percent for Utility Taxes.”

The board approved that increase with Burrows, Walker, Jodi Ginn and Kerry Callis voting in favor and Kim Temple voting against.

“We approved the 4 percent tax in September and approved the resolution for the nickel in June,” Trimble Superintendent Steve Miracle said Tuesday. “The 4 percent tax is called that because it sets the tax rate at a level that will bring in 4 percent more revenue, not neccessarily because it changes the tax rate by 4 percent.”

Miracle said the action was the first time in four years that the board had voted to take the increase, instead settling for the annual compensating rate.

“That tax always comes up in the fall as to whether to increase it. We don’t have information on that yet for Fiscal Year 2017,” but will evaluate those numbers in August or September.

The 4 percent was “the highest rate available,” Board Chairman Tony Walker said Tuesday. “That was recommended by the superintendent and Bob Wagner, our financial services advisor with OVEC.”

The Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative (OVEC) is a consortium of 13 school districts serving more than 50,000 students in north central Kentucky, providing assistance with regional planning, development, and implementation of educational programs on a continuing basis.

Miracle clarified that the four percent increase agreed upon last fall “goes into the General Fund and is used for salaries, books and other expenses. The nickel tax cannot be used for salaries or athletics or anything else. It can only be used for improvements to the high school facility.”

Miracle also said the nickel tax has nothing to do with the consolidation of middle school classes into oter facilities. “Consolidation is not tied to that tax,” he said

Browning said that social media has been quite active on the subject in the wake of last week’s vote by the school board to approve the tax levy. A vast majority of the comments have been in opposition to the action taken by the school board. Many of the individuals expressed the opinion that all of the voters of the county should have the opportunity to vote on the tax levy and proposed plans to replace the current high school with a new multimillion-dollar facility. Others questioned how an initial plan to close one facility due to declining student enrollment and declining state funding evolved into a nearly $34-million rebuilding plan.

“I’ve also heard that a petition is in circulation to recall the nickel,” Walker said Tuesday. However, at press time late Tuesday a spokesperson at the county clerk’s office said no affidavit had yet been filed. Browning was vacationing this week.

“As to a move to recall, I have not officially been notified of anything,” Miracle said. “It is certainly every citizen’s right should they deek to do so, I just hope they understand that the tax will not vhange cosoldation one way or another and the only thing it will impact is the facilties our students attend each day. The tax will improve facilities. I f the community chooses against the tax, there will be no improvement in facilities. I hope our community will put the students first.”

What some readers may not have caught in the wording of the resolution are the words “additional,” meaning that the nickel tax is on top of the 4 percent tax increase already implemented in September; and “recallable,” meaning that voters of the county have the option to veto the action by the board of education, should they so desire.

The resolution, as submitted by the Local Planning Committee and passed by the school board last week, reads as follows:

“In order to secure necessary resources for the proper implementation of the proposed capital plan including the renovation and new construction of the existing Trimble County High School (priority one, housing grades 7-12), it is recommended by the LPC to the Trimble County Board of Education, that they consider the levy of an additional recallable 5 cents per $100 assessed property value for the sole purpose of securing equalization and possible Urgent Needs funding from the General Assembly.”

KRS 132.017 states that the “tax rate levied by an ordinance, order, resolution, or motion of a local government entity or district board of education subject to recall as provided for in KRS 68.245, KRS 132.023, KRS 132.027 and KRS 160.470 shall go into effect 45 days after its passage.”

Browning said Thursday that an inquiry had been made as to the process. “I did see it on social media and saw a few people talking about it but I didn’t respond because I was waiting for someone to come to me.

“A lot of people don’t understand the process and there is a process with everything that you do, especially in regard to elections,” she said. “There are certain ways you have to do things and certain ways you have to handle it.”

Citing state statute, Browning said that during the 45 days following the passage of in this case the resolution, any five qualified voters who live in the area in which the tax levy will be imposed may commence proceedings to protest the passage of the resolution by filing with the county clerk an affidavit stating that they constitute the petition committee and that they will be responsible for circulating the petition and filing it in proper form within the required 45 day period, or by Aug. 4.

By law, the affidavit “shall state the names and addresses of all committee members and specify the address to which all notices to the committee are to be sent,” the statute reads.

Once the affidavit is filed, Browning would then publish a notice in The Trimble Banner that the tax levy is being challenged. The notice would identify the members of the petition committee and the expense of the advertisement would be the responsibility of the petition committee. A copy of the affidavit would be submitted to the board of education as well.

“When they file the petition it will have to include the name of the voter, the signature of the voter, there will have to be a separate sheet for each precinct. It has to include their signature, their date of birth and also there will be a filing fee of $50” by the petition committee, Browning said.

To be valid, the petition would have to include at least 10 percent of the number of voters who participated in the most recent presidential election. Browning said a total of 3,579 Trimble County voters cast ballots in the November 2012 general election, meaning the petition would require at least 358 valid voter signatures to be legitimate.

Once the petition is submitted to the clerk’s office, and assuming that the required 10 percent of valid voters is met, the tax levy would be suspended from going into effect until after the election. The clerk has 30 days after receipt of the petition to determine whether the petition has enough signatures of qualified voters to place the recall before the voters. If the clerk finds the petition to be insufficient, she must within that 30-day period notify in writing the petition committee and the school board of the specific deficiencies found. The notice would also be published in The Banner. A final determination of the sufficiency of the petition would be subject to final review by Trimble Circuit Court. Any petition challenging the county clerk’s final determination must be filed within 10 days of the clerk’s final determination.

Browning said elections are expensive to hold and that if the procedures of following the steps required and valid petitions are submitted, she hopes the process can be completed by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016. That is the deadline for candidates to file for the general election. If she is able to submit the information to the state board of elections by that date, the recall vote would be included in the general election at no extra cost.

If, however, the proceedings are not settled by the second Tuesday in August, a separate election is required. KRS 132.017 requires that “the cost of a called common school election shall be borne by the school district holding the election” and “shall comply with the provisions of KRS 118.025.”

By statute, the question on the ballot should an election occur would be framed so that the voter may by his or her vote answer “for” or “against” the tax levy. If the majority of votes cast oppose passage of the resolution, the tax levy would not be permitted to go into effect. If the majority of voters favor passage of the tax levy, it would immediately become effective.

“I’ve been here 23 years,” Browning said, “and we’ve not had one (recall election) in that 23-year period.”

Minutes of the LPC meetings, results of a 2011 Parson Report on the conditions of the various school facilities around the state, the school facility plan and other relative information is available for viewing on the school’s website.