Request to halt payroll tax nixed

By MIKE JAMES - The Independent

GREENUP May 07, 2009 10:54 pm

— Rail workers who had asked the court to halt collection of a payroll tax in Raceland withdrew their request Thursday, a court clerk said.
The workers, employed by Progress Rail at the Raceland car shops, had filed a request for a temporary injunction to prevent the city from collecting the 1 percent tax.
In court filings they had claimed the shops are not inside the city limits and also that the city did not satisfactorily explain why it needs the money.
Whether the workers will continue to fight the tax is unclear.
The lead plaintiff in the case, Tony Morrison of Proctorville didn’t return a call to his home asking for comment and his attorney, Kenneth R. Reed of Ludlow, also did not return calls from a reporter.
However, Raceland City Attorney James W. Lyon Jr. said his response to the injunction request had said that an injunction is not a proper remedy for the workers’ complaint, “and that’s one reason it was withdrawn.”
Though the workers say the shops are in an unincorporated area of Greenup County, the city maintains that they are in the city. “Our surveyors are gathering maps to show the properties are in city limits,” Lyon said.
It is possible that further court hearings will be necessary to establish the location, he said.
The city started collecting the tax May 1, Lyon said.
The tax has drawn heavy fire, mainly from the three largest groups of employees in the small town: Progress Rail, CSX and faculty and staff of the Raceland-Worthington School District.
The town’s council in February had enacted a 2 percent levy but scaled it back after sustained opposition.