Somerset —
The airport’s budget woes may be coming to an end.
During Tuesday’s Pulaski County Fiscal Court meeting, the court voted to approve a first reading of an occupational tax ordinance amendment that would give the Lake Cumberland Regional Airport a percentage of the gross profits from the tax.
“We’ve had several meetings with the airport ... we’ve also talked to the city,” said Pulaski County Treasurer Arlene Young during the meeting.
The amendment would give the airport 2 percent of the gross profit from the tax, which makes up around 20 percent of the county’s budget.
Employers within the county are supposed to withhold 1 percent of employees’ pay for the occupational tax. Along with that, employers also pay around 1 percent of their net profit into the occupational tax.
The airport will join three other entities that currently receive some percentage “off the top,” or from the gross profits from the tax.
13 percent of that goes to Pulaski County 911, 13 percent goes to Somerset-Pulaski County EMS, and around 5 percent goes to the Pulaski County Detention Center.
Members of the Lake Cumberland Regional Airport Board had spent some time visiting both the county and city governments this year, stating that something would have to change or the airport would be in danger of closing. County and city officials responded by attending an airport board meeting earlier this year to discuss the possibilities for funding the airport, which supporters say is tantamount in bringing businesses into the area.
Board members originally asked for as much as 4 percent from the gross profits of the occupational tax, but county officials, had been quick top say that number may not be feasible, especially since occupational tax revenues decreased during the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 fiscal years.
The 2009-2010 fiscal year will end on June 30.
“We felt and they (airport board members) felt they can operate with that amount of money,” Young said.
Young said the 2 percent allocation would amount to approximately $163,000 — but she said that number will almost definitely go up as local businesses, and the occupational tax, recover from the recession.
“We knew the occupational tax is going to come back, and they’ll get more,” Young said.
Generally, the occupational tax fund has grown between 2 percent to 3 percent each year. That growth had stalled, and the county only took in around $8 million in occupational tax revenue during the last fiscal year — much less than expected.
But, on Tuesday, Young announced that the occupational tax revenue for this quarter is up about 7 percent from the same time last year. That’s good news for everyone.
The county, along with the five incorporated cities, benefit from the tax.
After a percentage of gross profits are handed out to Pulaski County 911, Somerset-Pulaski County EMS, the Pulaski County Detention Center and now the airport, other entities are given a percentage of the net profits of the tax.
20 percent of that revenue goes into the county’s general fund, 20 percent goes to the Somerset-Pulaski County Development Foundation, 30 percent goes into the county road fund, and the remaining 30 percent is divided among the five incorporated cities — Somerset, Science Hill, Eubank, Burnside and Ferguson — by per capita.
Somerset receives the lion’s share of the cities’ allocation at around 90 percent.
Airport manager Ron Swartz attended Tuesday’s meeting, but he declined to comment on the first reading of the ordinance amendment.
