State Senator Jerry Rhoads of Madisonville is sponsoring a bill to create an alternate option for creating a library tax district in counties that do not already have one. The bill allows fiscal courts in those counties to create a library tax district by ordinance. The county’s judge-executive would then appoint a five-member library board to decide the tax rate.
Rhoads says there are several counties including Hopkins and Christian that could benefit from this bill if passed.
“In Hopkins County we do not have a library district, and funding has been a problem for our local library,” he says. “They are dependent upon the allocations that are made by the city and county government.”
Rhoads filed the same bill in 2012, and it did not get a committee hearing. But he is optimistic that won’t be the case this year.
“I do feel that our chances are a lot better, and I think it will have support over the House,” he says.
However, Hopkins County judge executive Donnie Carroll says if the bill passes there may be some opposition because residents may see the legislation as a new tax.