Tax generates $560,000 in first quarter

Whitley County’s payroll tax generated nearly $560,000 during first quarter collections across the county, and estimates show that about half of that revenue came from the City of Corbin.
Whitley County Judge-Executive Mike Patrick released payroll tax collection figures this week, and said that 50.5 percent of the tax revenue came from Corbin, while 27.5 percent came from unincorporated areas of Whitley County, and another 22 percent came from the City of Williamsburg.
“There are still monies that have not come in. I think those percentages will increase for the City of Williamsburg thereby decreasing the other two a little bit by the time it is all said and done,” Patrick said. “We will be reviewing these figures with the two cities, and refining that determination. It is fluid at this time, but this is what the numbers show.”
Patrick said that although the figures are lower than what officials had projected, they fell within the range of what he expected to receive this first quarter, and that he is pleased with the figures so far.
“Quite honestly, we would have expected to get a little bit closer to $700,000 or $750,000. I can’t go into any specifics, but some people have not submitted that we expect to, so we expect the total to be somewhat greater than that. This is what we have actually taken in at this point,” Patrick said Monday afternoon.
“As time goes on, unless it is just because of a very general downturn in the overall economy, I would always think the first quarter you collect might be the lowest quarter you ever have,” Patrick said. “In my opinion, you will probably need three quarters of time gone by before you know what is a good quarter.”
Patrick said county officials have done a pretty good job about getting word out about the tax being in effect, but he said there are still some that didn’t know about it, or for some reason haven’t paid the tax yet for whatever reason.
“We do expect some more income for the first quarter,” Patrick said.
As the result of negotiations with the two cities, Whitley County gets to keep 100 percent of the occupational tax revenue brought in through the payroll tax during the first quarter. After that, each city keeps 75 percent of the tax revenue brought in the from there, while 25 percent from the cities go to the county. The county keeps 100 percent of the revenue generated from unincorporated areas of the county, or areas that aren’t in the city limits. All three government entities split the cost of administering the tax.