Published: May 21, 2009 10:37 pm      

Seeking a tax — 05/22/09

Conservation service needs to tell how revenue will be used

It is safe to say that many Boyd County residents have never heard of the Boyd County Soil Conservation District and that many of those who have heard of the district have no idea what it does.

Nevertheless, if the leaders of the conservation district get their way, every property owner in the county soon will be paying higher taxes to support the district. The district has asked the Boyd County Fiscal Court to approve a 2-cent-per-$100 property valuation tax levy to support the district.

Boyd County Property Valuation Administrator Chuck Adkins said a 2-mill levy would generate approximately $340,00 a year. That would immediately change the conservation district from a hand-to-mouth operation just barely able to keep its doors open to one that is able to adequately provide services to county residents.

However, if they hope to convince members of the fiscal court to increase property taxes, both those involved with the operation of the conservation district and residents who have benefited from the district’s services need to fully explain to the uninformed masses exactly what the district does and how it will use the tax revenue.

Boyd County taxpayers already support the conservation district. The fiscal court allocates $36,000 a year to the district, an amount that has remained unchanged for the past six years despite requests by the district to increase it. A 2-mill levy would give the district an independent and dependable source of revenue and eliminate its dependence on the generosity of the fiscal court for revenue essential for its operation. It also would free up for other uses the $36,000 the county now gives the district each year.

The district also receives an annual allocation from the state, but that has been cut each of the past two years because of the state’s revenue woes. District officials already have been advised to expect another reduction of between 10 percent and 20 percent from the state as Frankfort continues to struggle with declining tax revenues.

Without the tax levy, Stephanie Young, office manager, programs administrator and only paid employee of the district, said all education programs would have to be eliminated and her job probably would be reduced to part time. Already her husband mows the grass at the district’s office and she takes the trash to her house to save money.

More than half of Kentucky’s 120 counties fund their soil conservation district through a property tax. Stephen Coleman, state director of the division of conservation, said every local tax dollar invested in soil conservation returns between $5 and $10 in federal dollars for conservation and management of the county’s natural resources. That makes the tax levy a good investment, he said.

Maybe, but before taking a position on the proposed levy, we need more information on just what the district does and how it plans to uses the revenue. Would a one-cent levy be adequate? After all, they would generate far more money than the district now gets from the county.

We’re certainly not opposed to soil conservation and sound management of the county’s natural resources. We just need to know what the district does to accomplish those worthy goals.

A sagging local and national economy makes this a bad time to raise taxes. The General Assembly may increase taxes to ease the impact of another revenue shortfall. That makes the task of convincing the four members of the fiscal court to increase taxes for soil conservation that much more difficult to achieve.