Whitley Fiscal Court: Occupational tax collections higher than expected

The City of Corbin will be getting $111,000 and the City of Williamsburg will be getting $42,000 more than expected from payroll tax revenue this fiscal year.

Whitley County Judge-Executive Pat White Jr. told the fiscal court Tuesday that the county had collected more in gross revenue than it had projected at the start of the fiscal year.

He estimated that the county’s gross domestic product grew about 2 percent more than expected this fiscal year, which ends June 30.

"This is a good thing to be over revenue projections, especially with this economy," White noted.

The fiscal court voted to approve an emergency ordinance so it can go ahead and pay the cities the money.
Much of Tuesday’s monthly fiscal court meeting centered on finances with the fiscal court approving the first reading of the 2009-2010 fiscal year budget totaling $14,503,809.

The new county’s budget includes a 3 percent cost of living adjustment for county employees plus an adjustment for the 90 cent per hour minimum wage increase, and funding to complete construction of the new $900,000 Whitley County EMS base.
White said the budget also includes money for a "reasonable amount of blacktop" and some waterline construction.

"We have been working on a large waterline project for about the last year," White said. "This budget has several extensions to serve a lot of areas that really need water."
The budget also includes money to move the 911-dispatch center from "the closest at the courthouse" to a facility at the airport White affectionately describes as "Whitley County NORAD."

"They are certainly going to a dispatch center with state-of-the-art technology and the best equipment," he said.
The fiscal court also voted to switch carriers for health insurance from Bluegrass Family Health to Humana.

Bluegrass Family Health had been the county’s insurance carrier for the last four to five years, but had proposed a rate increase of nearly 35 percent compared to Humana’s increase, which was only 7 percent, according to Sherry Walters, a representative with First Insurance Group.

The company negotiated the county’s new rates and heard presentations from five insurance carriers, White noted.
By comparison to the current plan, the new deductible will drop from $750 to $500.

The new plan will decrease the co-pay for specialists by $5 per visit. Urgent care rates will drop from $75 to $35 per visit.

"It is a pretty equal program. There are some gains and you give up just a thing or two, but overall it is an equal or better plan saving about 28 percent," Walters noted. "Every so often you just have to change carriers."

The national average for increases in insurance rates is about 12 to 15 percent, she added.
In other business, the board:

• Agreed to increase its donation to the Whitley County Fair Board from $2,500 to $4,000. Fair Board representative Ray Buhl said that donations are down this year understandably due to the economy.
One improvement that the increased donation will go toward is a carnival for the fair.

• Heard a presentation from 20/20 Vision representatives Bruce Carpenter and Tim Thompson.
The aim of the program is to move the area toward more regional goals, and to have local entities working together for the benefit of the whole region and not just one county or town by the year 2020.
The five goals of the program center on economic development, tourism, education, diversity and public relations.

• Agreed to purchase two new cruisers for the sheriff’s department out of coal severance funds. White said the new vehicles are part of an effort to decrease maintenance costs, which were $70,000 last year.