First Reading of 2026 County Tax Rates Passes, Community Center Renovation Project Receives Only One Bid, County 911 Charge to Appear on Water Bills

Darren Doyle, story:
Magistrates approved the first reading of the 2026 county tax rates at Monday's fiscal court meeting.

Rates will remain the same as last year, which went down from 2024 to 2025, at 12.2 cents per $100 of value.

A tax hearing is scheduled for  September 10, 2026 at 4:00PM for public discussion and the second reading is expected to be approved at fiscal court meeting that is scheduled to immediately follow the hearing.

​Courthouse/Community Center Project:
Plans for the Courthouse/Community Center Project continue with one bid being submitted for the project.*

While the project is listed as one, the construction is in two parts, one for each building. The bid was received by the Fiscal Court, which was from Bluegrass Building Consultants from Alvaton. The Courthouse porch and improvement bid was in the amount of $207,305.00.

The same company was also the lone bidder for the Community Center improvement, which was bid at $111,410.00. The bid cost for the entire project equals $318,715.00. 

In July of 2023, county magistrates approved $430K of ARPA funding for a facelift project that began as a vision from the Preserving Edmonson Pride (PEP) group in the summer of 2019. The project on the Courthouse Square included a new porch and a connection to the Community Center, however, those plans were put on hold soon after, due to unforeseen requirements and additional hidden costs of moving utilities that would have greatly exceeded the budget.

The project was somewhat simplified in an attempt to avoid further complications. District 2 Magistrate T.J. Massey, who was proactive in the project moving forward, said the project is about taking pride in the community.

"We should take pride in our town and in our community," Massey told the Edmonson Voice. "These funds were allocated over three years ago and we can finally see that this happens. Most people try to fix up their own homes as best they can. We make improvements, we take care of our yards. We also need to be doing that for what I call the centerpiece of our community, which is our town square. I hope this will revitalize the square and encourage others to want to visit here. Our Courthouse is obviously an historic building but it's long overdue for improvements."

E911 Surchage
Edmonson County Water customers will soon see a new surcharge on their water bills to help fund the county's 911 Dispatch Center. 

Four of the six magistrates voted to implement a $3 per bill surcharge dedicated to the 911 charge. A $2.74 surcharge previously appeared on all landline phone accounts but due to the drastic decrease in landline usage the county has seen a shortfall in the dispatch center funding. Magistrates Mark Meeks and T.J. Massey did not vote.

Judge/Executive Scott Lindsey said the charge could begin appearing on customer's water bills as soon as the first of October. All the surcharge money is allocated for the county's 911 Dispatch Center, minus a small administrative fee of 9 cents per month per customer from the Water District, Lindsey said.

*The Edmonson Voice was not requested to run the advertisement for bids.