- 401 Frederica Street, B-203
- Owensboro, Kentucky 42301
- (270) 685-2652 | FAX (270) 685-6074
What about fairness?
Local tax structure has many inequities
by Rodney Berry
| Differences in Services | ||
|---|---|---|
| City | County | |
| Service Area | City Government provides services for a geographic area of 19 square miles | County government provides services in a 486 square mile area |
| Law Enforcement | City and county law enforcement departments include different responsibilities. The city police department has 110 uniformed officers and 34 clerical staff. |
The county sheriff’s department has 21 patrol officers included in its 56 employees. Sheriff department employees also work in dispatch, investigation, court security, tax collection, inmate transportation and other areas. At any given time, there are far fewer deputy sheriffs on patrol than city police – and the county officers serve a much larger area. |
| Roads | City government maintains more heavily-traveled roads, curbs, gutters and sidewalks. |
County roads generally are less-traveled, but require more ditch and bridge maintenance. |
| Fire Department Fire department resources and response time varies significantly from city to county. |
The city maintains a full-time fire department of 95 employees. |
The county fire department includes 29 paid employees at two stations and 220 volunteers who work through 10 volunteer fire departments. |
| Parks and Recreation | The city parks department operates 20 parks and administers more organized activities than the county system. |
The county operates two parks. (A new county soccer complex is planned off of Highway 54.) |
| Streetlights | The city provides streetlight services. |
When some subdivisions are proposed in the county, developers request an ordinance for a streetlight district. Kenergy installs the lights and recovers its cost on a pro rata basis over a period of years through additional charges on tax bills collected by the sheriff’s department. |