Payroll tax opinions can be voiced at June 29 hearing

Whitley County residents will be able to voice their say over a proposed 1 percent payroll tax during a public hearing set for next Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. in the fiscal court meeting room.
The fiscal court headed off a potential shutdown of the county government on July 1, by approving the first reading of the payroll tax ordinance Thursday morning, and the first reading of the county budget ordinance for the 2005-2006 fiscal year.
Following the public hearing on June 29, fiscal court members must pass the second reading of the payroll tax ordinance and budget before they can take effect. The new fiscal year starts July 1, and state officials have threatened to sue the county if a balanced budget wasn’t in place by then. If a balanced budget isn’t in place by July 1, all county offices would have to shut down until a budget is approved, barring an order by a circuit judge to do otherwise.
Whitley County Judge-Executive Mike Patrick had tried unsuccessfully on two other occasions to get the payroll tax ordinance approved, but failed to do so. The measure died after a 3-2 no vote during May’s monthly meeting with Patrick and Magistrate Burley Foley voting for the tax, and Magistrates Wayne Wilson, Johnny Lawson, and Nolan Bird voting against it.
The measure died by a 2-2 margin during a special meeting earlier this month, which Bird didn’t attend.
Bird, however, changed his vote during Thursday’s special called meeting.
He said that he voted against the first reading of the ordinance in May, because he wanted to explore other options to the tax on his own.
“No one likes to pay taxes, and that’s a fact,” Bird said. “I have looked over this on my own. I wanted my mind to be clear on this, and it is clear. To keep the people, to keep the services to keep the county as we have been doing, and they have done a fine job, we have to have this.”
The county is currently facing a deficit of more than $1 million this fiscal year, which ends June 30. Fiscal court members must have a plan in place to pay off the deficit before the Governor’s Office for Local Development will sign off on the budget.
Patrick had told the fiscal court prior to Thursday’s vote that the only way to balance the budget without an occupational tax, was to eliminate $107,000 in funding to the sheriff’s department, eliminating health insurance for county employees, and laying off half of the county’s nearly 100 workers.
“I submit to you that we are not 50 percent overstaffed, and that layoffs of this magnitude would totally disrupt our ability to provide services to our citizens,” Patrick said. “It in effect would shut down the county judge’s office, 911, the ambulance service, the jail, and a great portion of the sheriff’s department.
“If we don’t balance the budget the state will shut us down July 1, but if we balance the budget without an occupational tax, the county will shut down on its own.”
Patrick said that with a payroll tax, the county will be able to continue funding for the sheriff’s department, continue to provide insurance for employees, and pay off the deficit over a three year period.
Whitley County Sheriff Lawrence Hodge had laid off four deputies and a secretary in mid-May after the fiscal court informed him they would have to cut funding to his department. Thursday afternoon Hodge announced that he was bringing all four deputies back to work that day since he had assurances that the funding for his department would be restored.
Wilson and Lawson said they promised voters not to vote for any tax increases, and that was the reason for their voting no on the payroll tax.
Lawson and Wilson did make the motion to approve the spending of the payroll tax revenue through the first reading of the budget, which they both voted to approve.
“I don’t think the working people needed any more taxes put on them in Whitley County. I don’t think it had to come to this, but it did,” Lawson said.
During Thursday’s special meeting, fiscal court members declined to recognize members of the audience wishing to speak out about the issue.
The fiscal court can only act upon items on the agenda during a special called meeting, but Patrick conceded that he could have recognized people wishing to speak out if he had chosen to do so.
Cleland Thorpe, a local resident who wanted to speak out during Thursday’s meeting, said he will have a lot to say during the public hearing.
“I’ll have a whole lot to say. I really appreciate a county official, who was elected, refusing to allow anyone to have anything to say. It’s a meeting of the people. We put the people in there. We should have a say so about it,” Thorpe noted.