Saturday, May 06, 2000
Kenton tax plan blasted
By Patrick Crowley
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FORT MITCHELL — A tax increase being pondered by the Republican-controlled Kenton County Fiscal Court has drawn a harsh political rebuke from the county's leading Democrat.
Kenton County Judge-executive Dick Murgatroyd, a Villa Hills Republican, has proposed increasing the county payroll tax to balance the budget and help pay for a new county jail.
But Kenton County Democratic Party Chairwoman Shirley Huelsmann, of Fort Mitchell, said the tax increase is needed because the Republicans have mismanaged the budget.
Mrs. Huelsmann claims that when former Republican Judge-executive Clyde Middleton was elected in 1989, he inherited a “large surplus” from previous Democratic administrations, though she did not provide any specific amounts.
She also said Republicancounty leadership has wasted tax dollars by hiring too many employees and “flip-flopping” on where to build a new jail. The fiscal court has twice announced locations for jail construction only to eliminate the sites after public opposition surfaced.
Deputy Judge-executive Scott Kimmich said Mrs. Huelsmann is working with bad information.
“This county has not had a true budget surplus since 1982,” Mr. Kimmich said. “The bottom line is that we would be on sound financial footing if we didn't have the need to build a new county jail.”
Mr. Kimmich added that the present administration has actually decreased the number of county jobs.
County Commissioner Adam Koenig, a Republican from Villa Hills, called Mrs. Huelsmann's comments “cheap political shots that are below the belt.”
People who work in Kenton County are taxed now on the first $25,000 of their annual income. That cap would be raised to $70,000 under Mr. Murgatroyd's proposal.
The measures are needed, Mr. Murgatroyd has said, to balance the county's proposed budget, which otherwise would fall short by nearly $4 million in the upcom ing fiscal year.
The fiscal court took similar heat last year, when it raised the county tax on telephone bills.
“I find it ironic that (just) before Tax Freedom Day Dick Murgatroyd would announce his plan for a huge increase in the payroll tax,” she said. “It looks like Tax Freedom Day is going to come a few days later for us in Kenton County next year.”
Tax Freedom Day is how long Americans have to work each year to earn enough to pay a year's worth of federal, state and local taxes. This year it is May 11. according to the Tax Freedom Foundation.
The first reading on the 2000-'01 budget and the discussion of the proposed changes in the county occupational license tax will be May 16, with a final vote in June.
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