Magistrates Work Through Business

Members of Meade County Fiscal Court worked through a short agenda and lengthy closed session during their regular meeting Tuesday (8/9) night.

During the public session, the court heard from a couple of business owners, who commented and asked questions of county leaders regarding the expansion of the Sunday sales of alcohol across the county. The topic rings hotly after the City of Brandenburg approved the first reading of an ordinance amending the hours that alcohol could be sold in city limits. Currently the county does not have a ordinance in place to address and set local standards for alcohol sales because of previous state laws.

Now that the state laws have changed and allow any size county and city to have Sunday sales, local business owners want to stop turning away business on Sunday’s to surrounding counties, who have sold alcohol on Sundays. Later in the business session of the meeting Fiscal Court directed County Attorney Jessica Brown Roberts to draft a ordinance which will mirror the Brandenburg ordinance to help reduce confusion on enforcement across the county. Fiscal Court is expected to discuss and review the draft at their next regular meeting.

In other business, magistrates set the county tax rates for the year. No changes were made to the tax structure, keeping the rate for real property at 21.60 cents per $100 of accessed value; personal property remains at 38 cents per $100 of accessed valuation; the merchant inventory tax rate remains at 19 cents per $100 of accessed valuation and motor vehicle and watercraft tax rate remains at 13.4 cents per $100 of accessed valuation.

David Pace, Chairman of the Industrial Authority gave county leaders an update on recent efforts. He said that they are expecting to close on two parcels in the Buttermilk Falls Park, one of which is a local company that is looking to expand and add about 45 jobs to the area and the other prospect smaller company would add additional jobs to the new industrial park. He said that the companies locating in the park will help make the development more attractive for prospecting companies. So far the Industrial Authority has been working with ten prospective clients in their search.

Jailer J.J. Scarborough reported to the court that the jail has began housing other county inmates to generate revenue. The new contract works similar to how jail is paid for state inmates. He said that on a annual basis the facility could make about $12,000. He also reported that a new scanning machine would be added to the to electronically search for drugs and other contraband as inmates enter the facility. The equipment has a estimated cost of $150,000 and will be paid off over a 6 year period from the canteen fund.

Magistrates approved the excess funds totaling over $14,000 from the Meade County Sheriff William “Butch” Kerrick which was discovered in a recent audit. The funds had been placed in a different place of his budget. The went into an executive session that lasted over an hour to discuss personnel and possible litigation issues, which resulted in no action taken by the court.

You may watch the entire meeting of the regular monthly meeting of the Meade County Fiscal Court in on our “On Demand” section.