Questions of eligibility raised against county judge-executive candidate

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Elizabethtown, KY - By Chris McGill - bio | email

LOUISVILLE (WAVE) - It's less than a month away from Election Day and the race for judge-executive in Hardin County is drawing extra attention. Some residents are questioning whether or not candidate Al Rider is eligible to run for the seat against incumbent Harry Barry due to property tax records that appear to show his primary residence is in Jefferson County.

Rider owns two homes, one in Hardin County and one in Jefferson County. On his property tax records in Jefferson County, Rider lists a homestead exemption, a tax break that's offered to homeowners over the age of 65 or to those who are disabled. But that exemption is only supposed to be used on a person's primary residence. If Rider claims Louisville as his primary residence, he wouldn't be eligible to run for a position in Hardin County.

Kenny Tabb, Chairman of the Hardin County Board of Elections as well as County Clerk, doesn't have an issue with Rider's eligibility to run for County Judge Executive.

"Some people have asked me before why I let him file, well a lot of people have more than one residence so far as we're concerned he's a Hardin County resident and we have to take the paperwork that he filed, regular on its face," said Tabb.

Rider admitted to us that he owns a home in Louisville, but he still says he is a permanent resident of Hardin County and has his cars registered there as well as being a registered Hardin County democrat.

"Both of them are my residence so to speak and I don't rent them out so I had the option of putting it (homestead exemption) on either one I wanted to," Rider said.

The Hardin County Property Valuation Administrator, Dan Hutcherson, disagrees.

"This homestead exemption is only for the primary personal residence. Not just any personal residence," said Hutcherson.

However, Hutcherson admits that the rules are very gray and he feels that Rider just made an honest mistake. According to Hutcherson, in March 2010 Rider came to his office to move his homestead exemption to his property on Locust Grove Road in Hardin County.

Rider claims that this whole issue has been brought forth as part of political mudslinging by those who don't support his run for county judge-executive in Hardin County.

"It's a tactic thing, it's a political thing," said Rider. "You know how politics come out this time of year. You know how that goes, it's a political move."