Ask Mike
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Our neighbors are working more and getting less. Rent is up. Groceries are up. Good jobs are harder to find. This page is about the money — where it comes from, where it goes, and how a mayor can make it fairer for the people who earn it.
Bardstown is the kind of place people are proud of. We build things, pour bourbon, care for patients, and welcome visitors from all over the world. But pride doesn't pay the electric bill — and the numbers say too many families here are falling behind.
The median household income in Bardstown is about $51,381 — roughly 19% below Kentucky's average and far below the nation's. Nearly 15% of our neighbors live in poverty.
Bourbon built this town, and we should be proud of it. But production pauses and layoffs have hit the region. When bourbon sneezes, Bardstown catches a cold — and families feel it first.
Every working person in Bardstown pays a 1% occupational tax on their paycheck. But the city code exempts distilleries from that tax on their liquor profits. Workers pay. The biggest industry doesn't.
Bardstown's occupational tax is 1% of wages and net profits. It is the single largest source of city revenue — about 60% of the general fund (roughly $9.66 million of a $16.17 million budget). In plain terms: the city runs on the paychecks of the people who work here.
But there's a catch buried in the city code. Section 117.03(B)(5) exempts distilleries from the occupational tax on the net profits from manufacturing alcohol. So a worker at the bottling line pays 1% of every dollar they earn — while the distillery pays nothing on the profits from the bourbon that worker helped make.
Mike Patel isn't anti-bourbon. Bourbon is Bardstown's identity and its biggest employer. But he believes a tax code should be fair to the people who actually pour the bourbon — and that means reviewing exemptions before asking working families to pay more.
In May 2026, the city issued about $25.68 million in general obligation bonds to build an Aquatic & Sports Center, a new Police Headquarters, and City Hall work. Some of that is worth doing — a community deserves places to gather and a police force deserves a real home.
But that debt is repaid from the general fund — roughly $1.5 million a year — and the general fund is the same pot of money that pays for streets, parks, safety, and services. Recent budgets have leaned on reserves to make ends meet. Mike's question is simple: if we're going to borrow against our children's future, we should be honest with voters about what it costs and what we're getting for it.
Mike will publish a plain-English budget, explain every major borrowing decision before it happens, and make sure the city isn't quietly spending tomorrow's money to avoid today's hard choices.
No magic wands. No promises a mayor can't keep. Just concrete steps the city can take to make work pay again.
Ask the City Council to review the distillery occupational-tax exemption and publish a plain-English accounting of who pays what. Fairness first — before any new burden on working families.
Make it faster and cheaper to open a shop, fix up a building, or start a trade. Small businesses are where most new jobs come from — and City Hall should be a help, not a hurdle.
Use the city's seat at the table with the county and the economic development board to keep the employers we have and bring in good-paying work that doesn't disappear when one industry slows.
Publish a plain-English budget every year, explain every major borrowing decision before it happens, and never let the city spend tomorrow's money to avoid today's hard choices.
Partner with our schools and the community college on trades, healthcare, and hospitality pathways — so a young person in Bardstown can build a career here instead of leaving to find one.
The best way to fund city services is more people working and more businesses thriving — not higher fees on the families already here. Growth, done right, pays for itself.
That means every door, every call, and every neighbor counts. Join the campaign and help us take this message to all of Bardstown.
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