What will your tax bill from the city of Lexington look like? Here’s the key info.
Property tax rates for the city of Lexington will remain the same for the next year.
On Tuesday, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council voted to keep the property tax rate the same as last year. The tax rate for the urban service fund — which pays for street lights, street cleaning and garbage pickup — will also remain the same.
The council will take a final vote on the tax rates at its Aug. 26 meeting.
For the general fund, the tax rate will remain 8 cents for every $100 of assessed real property and 9 cents for every $100 of personal property.
For a $200,000 home, taxpayers will pay $160 in general fund taxes, the city estimates. It’s possible a property owner will have a higher tax bill if the taxable value of the property — upon which total bills are calculated — increased from reassessments.
For a $200,000 home that receives all three urban services — street lights, street cleaning and garbage pick up — the taxes would be $347.20, city officials said Tuesday during a council work session. Not every house is covered by the urban services district. Homeowners are only taxed for the services they receive.
Also on Tuesday, the council set tax rates for other special taxing districts. Tax rates for the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department and the Soil and Water Conservation District will remain the same.
The Fayette County Cooperative Extension Office will see a slight increase of $1 for a $200,000 home, bringing the total average tax bill to $8 for the extension service tax.
Jamie Dockery, Fayette County extension agent for horticulture, told the council the increase was necessary because without a slight increase, the extension office stood to lose $80,000 that the property tax rate currently generates.
Dockery said the extension service has worked diligently to upgrade the building it purchased from the city 10 years ago. The service needs the money for the upkeep of that building. The service has received the OK from the University of Kentucky to fill several previously frozen positions. The extension service offers a range of services, including horticulture programs, job training, cooking classes, and the service runs the 4-H program for youth.
Council members Chuck Ellinger, Josh McCurn and Fred Brown voted against the extension service increase.
The bulk of property taxes go to the Fayette County School District, which announced earlier this month that it would slightly decrease tax bills because of increases in property assessments.
Roughly 63 percent of all property taxes go to the schools, according to figures provided by the city. The state receives 9.6 percent of property taxes while the Lexington general fund receives 6.3 percent.
However, a sizable chunk of Lexington general fund tax collections goes to the Lexington Public Library.
If the tax rates are approved as expected on Aug. 26, the property taxes for the general fund will generate $17.9 million for the library and $9.6 million for the city’s general fund.
This story was originally published August 11, 2021 at 12:22 PM.
