The Corbin Independent School District is looking for a police chief to lead its recently created Corbin Independent School District Police Department.
During its regular monthly meeting on Sept. 17, the Corbin Independent Board of Education voted to create the position of police chief and a job description for it, in addition to two fulltime Corbin Independent School District police officers positions, job descriptions for those position and the position of a substitute school district police officer.
Corbin Superintendent Dave Cox said that the school district has five school resource officers in all, but two officers will remain under the authority of the Corbin Police Department until the grants funding those positions end. Then those officers will be transferred to the school district police department.
Cox said there are certain advantages to the district having its own police department.
One is that having the officers under the school’s authority doesn’t encumber the city with additional costs.
Another is the school district can employ officers only for the duration of the school year as opposed to the city’s police department, which employs them year round.
This opens the positions up for several retired officers, who still want to work but not fulltime year round.
Cox said the school district police chief hasn’t been hired yet, but the job is being advertised.
During its monthly meeting, the board also set the 2024 real estate tax rate at 64.1 cents per $100 of assessed value, the tangible personal property tax rate at 64.7 cents per $100 of assessed value, and the motor vehicle tax rate at 69.3 cents per $100 of assessed value.
The tangible personal property tax rate and the motor vehicle tax rate are both unchanged. The real estate tax rate is down slightly compared to the 2023 tax rates.
“We wanted to keep the rate as close as we could to get the same amount of money that we have gotten for the past four years. This is the third year in a row that we have reduced the rate,” Cox said.
Cox warned that property owners may not see a decrease in terms of their property tax bills as the reduced rates will compensate for an increase property assessments.
“The board did not want to ask for any more school tax than we have received in the past,” he added.
In addition, the board voted to accept the School Facilities Construction Commission’s annual offer of assistance in Kentucky Education Technology Systems (KETS) funding for fiscal year 2024-2025.
Cox said that this year’s offer totals about $60,000 to help pay for technology costs, which the district is required to match dollar for dollar. For the most part, the funding goes towards student Chromebooks and the upkeep of technology.
Cox added that this year’s amount is consistent with prior year’s funding, and that the district spends far more than this amount out of the general fund just to maintain technology each year.
