Welcome everyone to Elizabeth Town City Council regular meeting for September 15, 2025.

And I'd like to ask Councilmember Tim Isaacs if he would please lead us in the indication.

Dear Lord, we are thankful for yet another beautiful day and for the opportunity to live and raise our families in a community that continues to grow and thrive.

Lord, we ask you to guide us as we work to be good stewards of the blessings you have provided for us.

Help us to be mindful of those that are struggling, searching for support and relief from the burdens they are carrying.

Help us to keep an open mind and an open heart to all the varied perspectives and concerns of the people of this great community.

Continue to bless our first responders and those tasked with the care of our children and our elderly.

Let us remind of the sacrifices that were made by those that came before us so that we might leave things better than we found them for the generations to come.

In your name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

If you join me in the pledge, I pledge allegiance to the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God.

Okay, we will start with approval of minutes from August 25th, 2025.

If I can get a motion in a second, please.

Second.

All in favor?

Opposed.

Seeing none, motion carries.

Tonight we are going to read a have first reading on three different ordinances that pertain to tax rates here in Elizabethtown.

We have our finance officer Jeff Hawkins here, and before we get to voting on that, on those three different first readings, I'd like for him to get up if he doesn't mind, explain a little bit about what that looks like.

I also want him to touch on uh the fact that we have not raised taxes for any of these three tax rates for as long as he's been here, which is 17 years, and uh how we ended up coming to the number that we came up with on the real property and personal property tax rate, if you would please do.

Um thank you, Mayor.

Um, every year, every local jurisdiction, counties, cities all go through the same process and get information from usually the PBA, and based on those assessed property values, we calculate our current property tax rate or for the upcoming year.

Um as everybody sees property tax values are going up.

And basically per state law, we're not allowed to capitalize on those giant increases.

Um there is a formula that we have to go through, and um we can basically take up to the same amount of revenue that we received the prior year, and up to a small percentage if we hold a public hearing.

We can go larger, but that requires a public hearing and it is subject to a recall through an election or thorough voting.

Um we haven't been taking the extra 4%, which is we can take up to a maximum of 4%.

We have not been taking that, and we have also not raised property taxes.

Umce I've been here, it's not quite 17 years, don't even feel like it, that to be honest.

But um, at least I know going back to 2012, we have not increased any of our property tax rates.

We've had some occupational tax increases, some other things, but property tax values or rates have not gone up.

If you feel like your bill is going up, keep in mind that on the same bill now we have Harden County tax rate and your school tax, either being Harden County School Tax or Elizabeth Town City School Tax.

Typically, those are going up.

So if your bill goes up, don't look at it and think it's automatically the city or even the county that's going up.

For instance, on our bill on the city property tax bill, if your house value is approximately 100,000.

Now, the school taxes are considerably more than that, so they do get a lot more.

So I know everybody rushes to assume that's always a city increase, but it's not.

Um so we try everything we can to keep the bills the same.

So I know everybody's thinking, what are we prefacing right now?

So I'll say that for Ken.

But um, we have been very consistent with our property tax values, and in fact, in the last three or four years, we've lowered them twice now.

So just everybody keep that in mind.

Um we generate majority of our tax revenue from our occupational, not from our property tax values.

Thank you.

So Judge Howard, we will start with the first reading of ordinance number 23, 2025 by motion setting tax rate for all motor vehicles and watercraft.

If I can get a motion in a second to read.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed, Judge Howard.

This is a first reading, be it ordained by the city of Elizabeth Town that from and after the passage, approval, and publication of this ordinance as follows, that an advalorum tax of 11.6 cents on each 100 dollars of assessed valuation of all motor vehicles and watercrafts taxable for municipal purposes in the city be in the same as hereby levied as of January 1, 2026.

For the purpose of raising revenue to pay salaries of officers and employees of the city, to pay for repairs and maintenance of streets and public ways, the public and other property of the city to pay for lighting the streets, the maintenance and operation of the fire and police departments, and all other proper and legal demands against the city.

Said tax shall be cut out by the Hardin County Clerk.

This ordinance shall be effective on or after its adoption, publication, and posting as provided by law.

Be it further ordained by the mayor and/or his designee is authorized and directed to take all steps necessary to perfect this ordinance, read the first time the 15th day of September of 2025.

Any discussion.

And we see no raise in that tax rate.

Takes us to ordinance number 24, 2025, setting franchise tax rate on all eligible bank deposits.

If I can get a motion in the second to read, please.

Second.