Perry County Tribune:
“Digging for Facts is Better Exercise than Jumping to Conclusions”
This article, written by Ben Carpenter, was first published in The Perry County Tribune on April 25, 2018.
For many years I have had a little saying hanging on the wall of my office. “Digging for Facts is better exercise than Jumping to Conclusions”. And I have always tried to live and work with what philosophy.
In this age of instant and continuous news, “fake news,” blogs and social media, I believe it is more critical than ever, and more difficult than ever to get the facts and understand them, before forming an opinion.
I have seen social media sites that operate under the anonymous cloak of a “community organization” attempt to spread political division based on fiction, rather than community partnerships through fact.
While I am not so naive to believe that this type of activity will ever end in Washington DC, I am hopeful it could end in Perry County. I am amazed and proud of the countless individuals, county employees, community groups and organizations that work tirelessly to the benefit of the residents of Perry County.
Let me touch on one topic that seems to be prominent at this time in Perry County; real-estate taxes. Some people saw an increase in their real-estate property taxes this year. I have seen and heard a host of complaints directed toward the “County.” Here are just a few:
“The Commissioners raised my taxes to continue to provide a free taxi service in the County”. This is obviously directed to the Perry County Transit. Our Transit provides many affordable transportation contract services to Schools, Perry County DD, and other countless, affordable public transportation services to people throughout our County that do not have transportation and need public transit to get to the Doctor, the Grocery etc. I cannot imagine an intelligent argument in favor of eliminating the County Transit. Fact: The Perry County Transit does not receive any County Money to operate! They operate on fees for service, State and Federal funds.
“The Commissioners raised my taxes so they could buy more junk buildings in New Lexington.” The ambiguous statement could seem to be directed to the Commissioners or our Perry Behavioral Health Choices. PBHC again operate many great programs without the aid or funding from any of the Counties General Revenue Funds. If that comment was directed to the abandoned houses being torn down throughout New Lexington, that is a function of the Perry County Land Bank that is funded 100% through a grant of over $500,000 to complete that work.
Your County Commissioners don’t raise real-estate property tax rates. If anyone has questions about how your rates are calculated. Contact our County Auditor, he has answers and will be able to help anyone understand the rates. I always encourage folks to ask questions and dig for facts. Call our office at 740-342-2045 or attend our open public comment session the 3rd Thursday of each month at the commissioner’s office at 1:00pm, if you wish to talk with your County Commissioners.
