Park Hills city council adopted an ordinance lowering the occupational tax rate and removing the cap.
The move changes the tax rate from $0.0035 to $0.00125 per taxable gross returns other than employees. It also removes the cap of $1,000 and the minimum of $25.
Mayor Kathy Zembrodt explained that the wording of the ordinance changed a little, since city Attorney Daniel Braun caught a couple of mistakes, but the final wording amends the previous ordinance and gives a definition of city and occupational license fee rate.
“We will continue to monitor this, it is very complex, we’ve talked about this many times,” said Councilwoman Pam Spoor, after thanking Braun for cleaning it up. “The intention is not to torture and make miserable our businesses, we want them to thrive and prosper. We’re just trying to allow for growth in the future by getting rid of the cap, so we’ll monitor this. We are seeking a revenue-neutral situation but we want to allow for future growth.”
Mayor Zembrodt suggested that it would help a lot of businesses, since it is a 50 percent tax reduction. She said that council would revisit the issue in the next budget year.
In other business, Councilmen Joe Shields and Steve Elkins were re-appointed as representative and alternate representative to Planning and Development Services of Kenton County (PDS).
Members were re-appointed to the forestry board. Mike Conway was re-appointed as chair, and Pat Flannery, Kathleen Laurin, Julie Ochs, Sally Soderlund, and Dr. Joseph Daugherty were re-appointed since their terms expired at the end of the year.
-Patricia A. Scheyer, RCN contributor