NUMBER OF SIGNERS NEEDED IS ABOUT 620
LAWRENCE COUNTY, Ky. — The time is near for the local group trying to get the so called ‘nickel tax’ that has been imposed by the local Board of Education on the ballot for voters to decide If they want it or not.
The deadline is April 29 for signatures on the petition which must include an estimated 620 which is 10% of the number of voters county-wide that voted in the Nov. 2016 general election, (6,196) Lawrence Clerk Chris Jobe said.
According to organizer Patty Carter the numbers are good to this point but they will do an extra push beginning this week to get the correct number or way above.
Lawrence Clerk Chris Jobe must “certify” each signature once the petition is and he has 30 days to do so. During the recent wet-dry vote Jobe and election officers disqualified many of the signatures.
The issue arose when the Lawrence BOE decided to impose what is called the “Recallable Nickel Tax” which allows a 5 cents per $100 “temporary tax” that will automatically be taken off as soon as the expenditure, in this case a new elementary school in or near Louisa, is paid off.
A group of citizens led by Ms. Carter, her boss at Wilson&Bailey law office, Gene Wilson, local businessman and assistant LVFD chief Jeff Kinser and others have been soliciting signatures for just over two weeks on a petition calling for a vote on the new tax.
“Whether you are for the ‘nickle tax’ or not, there should be a chance for taxpayers to vote on it,” anti-tax activist Jeff Kinser said at a recent BOE meeting.
If the petition is successful an election would be held sometime in May or June, MAYBE. Lawrence Clerk Chris Jobe said today the BOE has the option of having a special election no more than 45 days after the signatures are certified by Jobe’s office, OR wait until the next general Election.
Under Jobe’s interpretation of the law, the BOE would have the option to hold a special election (estimated $30,000) or wait until the next General Election in November 2018.
