Property tax rates were set by the Wayne County Board of Education during its meeting Monday, August 15. The tax rate will increase from 38.6 cents to 38.9 cents per hundred dollars of assessed value.

The rate the board accepted is the compensating rate, which is required so that the district can participate in other state funding sources.

Superintendent John Dalton noted that this is the first year he can recall when property tax assessment for the county decreased.

Total property assessment dropped about $800,000 this year, Dalton noted. Compare that to a year ago when assessment increased by about $39 million.

The increase approved by the board translates into a $3 increase per hundred dollars of assessed value. The rate of 38.9 cents was approved for both real and personal property.

The board opted to keep the motor vehicle tax rate the same at 52.8 cents per hundred dollars of assessed value. The utility tax will remain at three percent.

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A local woman has been charged with promoting contraband, according to Wayne County Jailer Ray Upchurch.

On August 15, Debbie Baker of Monticello was arrested by the Monticello Police Department for theft by unlawful taking. She was lodged in the Detention Center.

Upon a search of Baker’s person, a female deputy jailer found a cigarette wrapper which contained four and a half methadone pills, according to Upchurch. Baker also had a marijuana cigarette in her change purse.

She was charged with promoting contraband first degree. The contraband was turned over to the Monticello Police Department.

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The Wayne County Heritage Festival will be held Saturday and Sunday, September 3 and 4 on the grounds of the Brown-Lanier House at Mill Springs.

The weekend event will feature local history and a look at the way life used to be in Wayne County.

There are many activities planned for the two-day festival, including live demonstrations, story telling, music, a Civil War encampment, Sunday morning worship services, and much more.

Admission to the festival is free. It is co-hosted by the Wayne County Historical Society and the Mill Springs Battlefield Association.

For more information visit www.waynecountykentuckyhistoricalsociety.org or e-mail wchistoricalsociety@windstream.net.