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Hopkinsville council approves lower occupational license tax after mayor breaks 6-6 tie
Summary
After prolonged debate over reserves and bond payments, the Hopkinsville City Council approved Ordinance 32-2025 to set the occupational license tax at 1.3% following a 6-6 tie that Mayor James R. Knight Jr. resolved with a tie-breaking vote.
Hopkinsville — The Hopkinsville City Council voted to set the city’s occupational license tax at 1.3% on Nov. 4, approving Ordinance 32-2025 after a 6-6 split that required Mayor James R. Knight Jr. to cast the deciding vote.
Council members debated the change at length, raising concerns about the city’s unassigned fund balance, pending bond payments and whether a smaller cut to the proposed rate should preserve funds for economic development and public-safety projects. An amendment to raise the proposal to 1.35% was offered and failed on a roll-call vote; the council then returned to the original motion and reached a tie. Mayor Knight cast the tie-breaking vote in favor, saying, “We will go with 1.3. That is my vote.”
Melissa Clayton, the city’s finance official who answered council questions during the discussion, said the city borrowed $3,620,000 for a development bond and described the loan amortization schedule and repayment structure discussed during the meeting. Council members repeatedly pressed on how bond principal and interest would be handled and whether payroll-withholding mechanisms and claw-back provisions would affect the city’s ability to recover costs.
Opponents of the lower rate argued the city is holding higher-than-recommended unassigned reserves and should leave the rate at its current level to fund planned projects, including repairs and feasibility work on aging fire stations and other capital needs. Supporters said lowering the occupational license tax would make Hopkinsville more competitive for business recruitment and relieve taxpayers.
Council discussion included a proposed amendment to set the rate at 1.35% and specifically allocate 0.05 percentage points to economic development; that amendment failed on a roll-call. After the mayor’s tie-break, the ordinance passed and is written to take effect July 1, 2026, according to the ordinance text.
The council did not adopt any additional, specific allocations at the meeting for how the revenue difference would be used beyond references to prior committee recommendations on splitting certain funds for fire station and economic-development purposes.
