May 3, 2018

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FAC Spotlight:

By the Numbers

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Batters Up for the Curve Ball

By the Numbers— As Individual Income Tax filing season reached its deadline on April 17, Department of Revenue (DOR) staff can take a well-deserved deep breath and great pride in a job well done...but not for long. Through April 27, DOR had received nearly 1.9 million returns and processed over 1.6 million of those Kentucky tax returns. Of those returns, 90% of filers filed their returns electronically. Nearly $465 million in state refunds have been sent to Kentucky taxpayers, which is up more than $6 million compared to the same time last year. The average refund this year is $392. Two statistics DOR staff should be especially proud of involve the speed in which taxpayers were helped. The average number of days to process refunds dropped to 4.7 days from 7.8 last year. That means hard working taxpayers received their refunds over three days faster than the previous year! Also, DOR answered more than 106,000 filing related phone calls. The average hold time was just 3:48, down from 4:56 last year. Outstanding! Another important area that has seen improvement this filing season is fraud prevention. Fraud prevention procedures flagged over 60,000 potentially fraudulent returns. That number is up from just under 30,000 last year. These detection measures have saved in excess of $14 million from being fraudulently stolen from hard working Kentuckians. A tip of the cap to DOR staff for all of their outstanding work!

Batters Up— With kudos for a job well done for tax filing season, DOR is now in the batter up box getting ready for an influx of new business services that must begin collecting sales and use taxes—a curve ball DOR was not quite expecting from this year’s general assembly. DOR is working to update systems and other processes to handle the new filings, which take effect July 1. Part of that work is to reach out to thousands of tax practitioners, industry groups, boards, commissions and other entities to educate the general public and businesses that will be impacted. Certain services that will now have to collect sales and use taxes, then remit them to DOR include:

Labor and services for certain repair, installation and maintenance of personal property, such as your automobile

Pollution control facilities

Landscaping services Janitorial services Pet care veterinarian

services (small animals)

Pet grooming and boarding services, except veterinary services

Fitness and recreational sports centers Industrial and laundry

services (uniforms) Golf courses and

country clubs Limousine services Dry cleaning and

laundry services, except coin-operated

Linen supply such as bed linens, gowns, dia-pers and towels, excluding charitable hospitals.

Diet and weight reducing centers (non-medical)

“That’s the way Dad does it on his income tax.”

Overnight trailer campgrounds Other personal care services Bowling centers Extended warranties

Fleet Sale a Success! Next auction is May 7 at Fish & Wildlife

Even a dismal, rainy day could not keep 265 registered bidders from getting deals on more than 250 vehicles at the April 24 Fleet auction. A total of 258 runners and non runners sold for $511,525, which ended up as an average price of approximately $2,000 per

vehicle. “It definitely takes a team effort to put these auctions on,” said Dewey Blevins, director of the Division of Surplus Property (DSP), which coordinates the auction with the Division of Fleet Management and auc-tioneers from around the state.

Throughout the day, Melinda Hill, chief of staff for the cabinet, and Troy Robinson, executive director of the Office of Administrative Services, helped relieve staff for breaks.

“I had never been to one of our auctions,” said Chief of Staff Hill. “I was so impressed with the flow and organization of the auction. Thanks to everyone who was involved in preparing for the sale and working the auction.”

NEXT SURPLUS PROPERY SALE IS MAY 7

Ky Dept. of Fish & Wildlife Salato Wildlife Center

#1 Sportsman Lane, U.S. 60 West, Frankfort Surplus Vehicles, Confiscated Weapons & Miscellaneous Items

Registration begins 8 a.m. Sale starts at 10:00 a.m. Go to surplusproperty.ky.gov for more information.

If you want to receive notification of upcoming sales and auctions, click here.

L-R: Lissa Caldwell & Julie Bickers, both with DSP, work the registration & payment desk.

Left: Troy Robinson waiting to writer winning bidder’s number on the truck window. Far Right: Gary Thornton, DSP assistant director,

keeping track of winning bidders.

Chief of Staff Hill wiping window dry so winning bidder’s number can be written on there.

OK. Spring is officially on time now that the floral clock is done!

Even though it seemed to take spring a long time to get here, you can always set your clock by when the Landscape crews plant the floral clock and pull up the tulips in the rounds to make way for summer flowers just in time for Derby celebrations. The beds down Capitol Ave and the Floral Clock are adorned with annuals designed in large flower blooms, honey bees and bee’s wax this year. So as you drive down the avenue enjoy these beautiful works of art. Hopefully you will pick a winner and enjoy a mint julep!

L-R: Joe Hobson, Harper Smith, Bill Blackburn, Adam Rogers, Sandy Perkins, Kaitlin Farlee, Jud Browning, Ryan Hix, John Lee, Kent Rawlings . Not pictured, Ross Flatt, who had to leave to work on feature water fountains.

Statue of Heroic Korean War Horse to be Dedicated

at Kentucky Horse Park An early Memorial Day story celebrating Sgt. Reckless , a mare Important to U.S. Marines

A larger-than-life, 1000-pound statue of the heroic Korean war horse, Sgt. Reckless, will be unveiled at a dedication ceremony at the Kentucky Horse Park on Saturday, May 12, 2018, at 1 p.m. EDT. The dedication of the statue at the park follows a more than two-year effort by Marine Corps veterans and private citizens who have been actively involved in nationwide efforts to raise money to place the statue at the park. Although Sgt. Reckless has been recognized with bronze statues at both Camp Pendleton (California) and the National Museum of the Marine Corps (Virginia), it was the vision of James E. “Ted” Bassett III, a Marine Corps combat veteran of World War II and former president and chairman of the Keeneland Association, that she be memorialized at the park. “We are so honored to be custodians of this beautiful monument and monu-mental legacy of a horse small in stature, but big in courage,” said Laura Prewitt, executive director of the Kentucky Horse Park. “Sgt. Reckless epitomizes everything great about horses and our relation-ship with them.” Sgt. Reckless, a small Mongolian-bred mare with a racing back-ground in her native country, became a national hero in 1953 after she was purchased by U.S. Marines during the Korean War to carry ammunition for the 75mm Recoilless Rifle Platoon.

During the Battle of Outpost Vegas in March 1953, she made 51 trips up to the gun sites - most of the time by herself - and carried more than 9,000 pounds of ammunition on her back. Wounded twice, she never stopped. She also evacuated wounded and dead from the battlefield, and quickly earned the love and respect of all the Marines who served with her.

The dedication ceremony, featuring a Marine Corps color guard, will include an unveiling of the statue by four Korean War veterans who served with Reckless in Korea, plus guest speaker Sgt. Harold Wadley, USMC (Ret), who saw her in action during her most heroic battle.

Additional speakers will include Ted Bassett; Robin Hutton, author of the book “Sgt. Reckless: America’s War Horse;” and Jocelyn Russell, sculptor of the monument. Music will be provided by Dixieland South

Band, and an original theme song will be sung by Nashville country music artist, Templeton Thompson.

The U.S. Marine Corp Museum will have educational outreach avail-able in conjunction with the Sgt. Reckless dedication. Interactive displays will be set up on Saturday and Sunday, May 12-13, 9 am – 5 pm, near the statue.

More information is available on the park’s website at www.kyhorsepark.com.

Memorial Day will be here before we know it. Formerly known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day commemorates all men and women who have died in military service for the United States.

While Memorial Day has become less of an occasion of remem-brance, please take a few moments to think about all of our past and current military service members and the sacrifices they make to keep us safe. And for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, we cannot recognize or thank them enough on Memorial Day or throughout the year.

Memorial Day 2018

Monday, May 28

DON’T FORGET…

to complete your

Living Well Promise by 7/1/18

If you chose one of the LivingWell plans for 2018, you must complete a biometric screening or your online Health Assessment between January 1 and July 1, 2018. In 2018, whether a member completes their LivingWell Promise or not, they will have access to both the LivingWell and Standard plan options. However, only members who completed their LivingWell Promise in 2017 will have the opportunity for discounted insurance premiums based on 2018 plan rates when they elect a LivingWell plan for 2018. https://www.go365.com/ https://livingwell.ky.gov/Pages/LivingWellPromise.aspx