Atheists & Agnostics

NeoGreen

(4,033 posts) Thu Jul 13, 2017, 11:43 AM Jul 2017

Williamstown (KY) Is Expecting Ken Ham to Sue Over a Proposed Safety Fee

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/07/13/williamstown-ky-is-expecting-ken-ham-to-sue-over-a-proposed-safety-fee/

Williamstown (KY) Is Expecting Ken Ham to Sue Over a Proposed “Safety Fee”
July 13, 2017 by Hemant Mehta

Williamstown (Kentucky) officials are bracing for a lawsuit from Answers in Genesis over a proposed “safety fee” that could cost the Creationists $700,000.

It’s just another example of how Ark Encounter is hurting the city.

As I posted before, the city has instituted a new “safety fee” to cover the cost of necessary expenses (like fire trucks) that will make the city a safer place for tourists. The fee involves a $0.50/ticket charge on all admission-based businesses in the city. If Ark Encounter gets an estimated 1.4 million visitors over the next year, we’re talking $700,000. The city only expects to receive $715,000 overall, so Ark Encounter’s contribution is vital.

But a couple of weeks ago, we learned that Answers in Genesis was trying to get out of paying this cost by saying their were a religious ministry, exempt from all such taxes.

There were two problems with that argument:

1) They constantly said they were a for-profit attraction when they were applying for tax breaks in previous years. This is a legal distinction that had to be settled.

2) They were hurting the very city that gave up so much in giving them a place to build the Ark. This was purely ethical, but it showed you the hearts of the people behind the scenes.

So the Williamstown City Council proposed the fee, Ken Ham‘s team said they weren’t going to pay it, and city officials told Ham they had to pay it because they were a for-profit attraction.