BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — The library tax rate will stay the same for the fiscal year 2023. The Martin County Public Library District Board voted Monday to keep the real property tax rate at 10.9 and the tangible personal property tax rate at 11.64 cents per $100 of assessed value.
Chairperson Don Osborne stated the Kentucky Department for Local Government recommended the district take the compensating rate of 11.0 for tangible personal tax.
“I don’t think we should raise it,” board member Dottie Horn stated.
Osborne agreed.
“It wouldn’t be worth it,” he said. “I’ve never voted to increase it. I’m very proud that we could be fiscally responsible enough to increase services without increasing tax rates.”
Osborne said the difference between the current and compensating rates would be about $5,000 in revenue.
“I think we could look in our budget and find $5,000,” he added.
Library director vacancy
Osborne announced that interim library director Kendra Fletcher had submitted a letter of resignation two weeks earlier.
“We fought it, but she wouldn’t give in,” said Osborne. “She has requested to stay on as operations manager, which was her last title, part-time and on an as-needed basis.”
Fletcher will handle rentals, building upkeep and “big community projects.” Osborne said she would still maintain janitorial and maintenance staff and operate the library’s social media accounts.
The board appointed board members Denise Stepp and Maurice Mills to the library director hiring committee.
Other business
In other business:
• The board voted to change the regular monthly meeting time to 5 p.m. every third Monday of the month.
• Stepp announced the opening of the new Warfield Story Walk would be Saturday.
• Osborne said the board needs to determine what it would do to help with the Christmas in the Mountains festival.
• Osborne stated the hot air balloon ride at the Harvest Festival was a great success, and the library refunded the $10 ticket price to all patrons who had prepaid.
“We never intended to charge for tickets, but we needed something to ensure people would show up,” said Osborne.