Trigg Countians have the right to a final say on a proposed nickel tax from the Trigg County Board of Education.
That’s according to Trigg County Circuit Court Division II Judge Natalie White, who Thursday afternoon ruled in favor of the Trigg County “Citizens Right to Vote on Tax Increases” committee, and its public efforts to collect petitioners calling for the measure to be put on a ballot.
On January 23, County Clerk Carmen Finley confirmed that more than 1,060 signatures were verified citizens and registered voters of Trigg — well over the 741 needed for a called referendum.
In a counter to the petition, school attorney Jack Lackey Jr. filed a detailed dispute contending five points of order:
1) The committee didn’t take an oath to a notary when submitting the affidavit.
2) The committee didn’t affirm they would be responsible for circulating and filing said petition.
3) The petition’s language didn’t take a position either “for” or “against” the tax.
4) The petition’s mathematics improperly represented the tax increase by more than two cents per $100.
5) And the petition’s mathematics improperly represented the tax increase by more than four percent on real and personal property.
In a nine-page issued ruling to all parties, White addressed each of these points using considerable state case law and state statute, in which she had to determine “substantial compliance” by the school board and the opposing committee.
White reasoned the intent of collective state statutes ensures “no county ordinance is passed in secret, or without reasonable notice to the public.” She also noted that substantial Kentucky caselaw supports that “strict compliance with election statutes should not be required, when it would deprive the citizen of his free suffrage — the dearest, highest, and most sacred privilege man enjoys.”
Using these axioms, White called her court “a troubling arena” to constitute substantial compliance, because she had to order how close the committee needed to be in order for statute actions to trigger and take effect.
She called it undisputed that committee members Lisa Champion, Laura Wadlington, Kenneth Cherry, W.E. Rogers and Jeanie Rogers were properly identified and effectively circulated the petition.
She said there was no dispute that this committee assumed responsibility, confirming compliance.
She agreed that the language “for” or “against” a tax was “not ideal” for questioning one’s intent for protest, but that she could not abandon common sense in this action, and that the court believes everyone signed with the expressed intent to protest a tax increase.
And though she agreed the committee misstated tax increases and percentages, she deemed the errors “non-fatal” to the action call, because individuals protesting the tax levy “knew an increase existed.”
Because the affidavit and petition complied with KRS, White said denying a vote would “run afoul the extensive Kentucky caselaw that suggests otherwise.”
Both parties met in White’s court on the afternoon of May 10, in which she agreed to allow summary judgments be filed for her review.
White’s ruling can be appealed by the Trigg County Board of Education. This is a developing story.