Rick Corman, operator of Midway's rail line, dies after a long battle with cancer; he was a friend to the town

Rick Corman, whose R.J. Corman Railroad Group is a defining fixture of Midway, died today after battling multimple myeloma cancer for 12 years. He was 58. His 40-year-old company is a diversified railroad service firm that operates in more than 21 states.

Corman often sent his "Old Smoky" steam engine to Midway for events, set up a deep red caboose near the old depot building (now the bank) and wanted to establish a dinner train that would run between Lexington and Midway and perhaps on to Frankfort. That plan was thwarted when CSX Transportation, which leases the line to Corman, wouldn't go along. Corman recently started a dinner train on his line to Versailles, which the company owns. The lack of a dinner train in Midway probably scotched Corman's plans to lay a parallel track through town.

The visitation and funeral will be held in Hangar 1 on the company headquarters property at 101 R. J. Corman Drive, Nicholasville. Visitation will be Sunday, Aug. 25 from 1 to 8 p.m.; funeral services will be Monday, Aug. 26 at 4 p.m. The front gate will be open at 2:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, friends may make donations to the Richard Corman Research Fund in Multiple Myeloma, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, PO Box 849168, Boston MA 02284-9168.

Council raises tax rates slightly; majority says revenue base must be protected

The Midway City Council voted tonight to raise taxes slightly, to safeguard the city's future revenue base, after debating whether the small amount of extra money this year was worth the trouble.

The tax on real estate will be 10.6 cents per $100 of value, up from 10.5 cents for the last fiscal year. Personal property will be taxed at 18 cents, up from 16 cents, but the increase is estimated to generate only $214 more than the old rate because the value of personal property on the tax rolls declined this year, to $1,071,970 from last year's $1,205,484.

Woodford County Property Valuation Administrator Gary Gillis was at a loss to say why for sure, but told the Midway Messenger last week that some taxpayers were late in filing their personal-property returns by the May 15 deadline. Versailles reportedly had a similar phenomenon last year.

The value of real estate in Midway also declined, to $96,731,300, from last year's $97,241,400. When property value declines, taxing authorities can levy a compensating rate, which generates roughly the same amount of revenue. Tax rates have only one decimal place, so the amounts are only roughly equal. Based on property valuations, the compensating rate on real estate will generate $103,671, or $1,568 more than last year's $102,103.

"Is that really worth it?" Council Member Bruce Southworth asked, as the real-estate rate came up for a vote. Southworth, who took office in January, cited the slow economy and its effect on jobs. He was the only member to vote against the rate.

Council Member Sharon Turner and Mayor Tom Bozarth said the council usually takes the compensating rate, "to keep our revenues kind of steady," as the mayor put it. Turner said the rate makes up for depreciation of property. Later, they said failure to adopt the rate permanently sacrifices revenue that is available to the city from sticking with the compensating rate.

(The council can set whatever tax rates it wants, but if it wants to increase revenue more than the roughly calculated compensating rate it must hold a public hearing. If it wants a rate that would increase revenue more than 4 percent, citizens can petition for a ballot referendum on the rate.)

Council Member Grayson Vandegrift said he had thought about skipping the compensating increase for this year, but "this one doesn't particularly bother me, it's such a minor increase."

But when the council came to the personal-property rate, Vandegrift voted against it. He said he understands why the city's accountant recommends the compensating rate, to take whatever rate is easily available, but "I just disagree with that philosophy."

Council Member Sara Hicks said the total revenue increase could be used to support civic activities sponsored by Midway College, which sought support at the meeting for its Artists and Lecture Series. Council Member Dan Roller said he would prefer that the council support the city's regular expenses and use windfalls like last year's $2,500 donation from the Iron Horse Marathon to make donations.

Earlier, the council agreed to continue its $1,000 annual support of the Artists and Lecture Series, indicating to college spokeswoman Ellen Gregory that it might increase its support if the college assembled next year's lineup and asked for support while the council is making its next budget.

"I'm very excited" about the 2013-14 schedule," Hicks said. "This is a really valuable service the college offers Midway . . . for the citizens of the town to have access to cultural events."

Gregory said a few parts of the schedule are still being finalized. Among those firmly scheduled are a Constitution Day observance with Deputy Chief Justice Mary Noble, Sep-t. 17 at 7 p.m.; Dr. Clifford Kuhn, The Laugh Doctor, Oct. 17 at 5 p.m.; a Mary Todd Lincoln chautauqua on a date to be determined in March; and Kentucky Poet Laureate Frank X. Walker April 1 at 7 p.m.

Among other business, the council accepted a $29,000 bid from Renner & Sons of Lexington to place a cut stone facing and cap on the reconstructed wall on Gratz Street. Bozarth said the other bid, from Bobby Cameron of Mount Vernon, was $32,000. Here's a current photo of the project:

Council set to adopt tax rates, hear other new ordinances at meeting this evening

The Midway City Council is scheduled to adopt property-tax rates and hear first reading of other proposed ordinances, including a change in alcoholic-beverage license fees, at its regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. today at City Hall.

The council is also scheduled to hear from Midway College spokeswoman Ellen Gregrory about the school's artists and lecture series and from Kenny Smith of the Midway Merchants Association.

All council meetings are open to the public.

Corman to start Lexington-Versailles dinner train Aug. 14

R.J. Corman Railroad Group formally announced today what the Midway Messenger reported in March, that the company will operate a dinner train from Lexington to Versailles rather than its original plan of a train to Midway and perhaps Frankfort.

The train will run Wednesday through Saturday, with a lunch excursion from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and a dinner excursion from 6 to 8:30 p.m. The first trip will be Aug. 14, the 25th anniversary of the original My Old Kentucky Dinner Train, which Corman operates from Bardstown to the Jim Beam distillery at Clermont. The Versailles train will start at the new Corman station behind Rupp Arena and go through horse farms such as Ashview and Calumet, past Keeneland Race Course and through the Pisgah community, behind The Castle.

"The Lexington Dinner Train continues the tradition of reinvigorating classical train dining for a modern audience," Corman said in a press release. "Along the 15-mile trek from Lexington to Versailles, passengers will enjoy seasonal entrees prepared by renowned chef Gil Logan as well as a scenic tour of locally and historically significant locations." Logan said, "We take some of the freshest foods in Kentucky and put a classical continental twist on them." Tickets are available at www.kydinnertrain.com or at 1-866-801-3463 (number corrected from previous version).

Corman's plans for a train to Midway fell through because the company leases that track from CSX Corp., which did not want passengers on the line, Mayor Tom Bozarth told the Messenger in March.