Kenbridge Officials Vote for No Exemptions in Decal Discussion

KENBRIDGE – Kenbridge officials discussed town decals last week during their November meeting and decided to change the dates for the decals to run from January 1 each year to December 31, with this beginning on the June 2016 personal property tax billing. This is a change as the decals had previously started being required on April 16th of each year.

Also during the discussion, council member Kathy Gilley said that she had been approached by some members of Kenbridge Fire Department who were upset that the town may no longer give them a free decal as part of being a member of the volunteer group.

Councilman Ken Blackburn stated, “Changing the ordinance was intended to be revenue neutral, but how do we make sure we bill the right ones.”

Mayor Emory Hodges said that this would require the records to be kept up with so that there would be no confusion on who should and should not get a free decal. He went on to note that the town had recently given the fire department additional funding for their new fire truck with the equipment contribution going from $5,000 to $7,500.

Mayor Hodges also said that many of the members live outside of town and that volunteer rescue squad members didn’t receive the free decals.

Councilman Blackburn stated, “The issue is not the $20, it is the bookkeeping and making sure the right people get it.”

Following this discussion, town officials voted to make the date billing and cycle changes above and not to have any exemptions for anyone when it comes to town decals.