Ex-Lexington mayor’s home valuation didn’t change for 17 years. He denies special treatment
For 17 years, former Lexington Mayor Jim Gray’s home saw no increase in its assessed property value, even as values on homes around it rose.
It’s an oversight that was corrected Friday morning, following inquiries from the public and the Herald-Leader, Fayette County Property Valuation Administrator David O’Neill said.
As of Thursday, the fair cash value for Gray’s home at 216 Market St. remained at a steady $315,000 from 2005 to 2022, while other homes in that area — in the historic Gratz Park neighborhood of downtown Lexington — are currently valued at about $500,000.
“The Gratz Park situation was also brought to my attention this week and has been corrected — It wasn’t just Mayor Gray’s house, but rather all three houses on that block and one other in the next block,” O’Neill wrote Thursday in an email in response to a query from the Herald-Leader.
The questions over the value of the Market Street property come amid the PVA’s release this week of Fayette County property value assessments that have shocked some. A hot Lexington real estate market resulted in assessments jumping as much as 30% in some areas.
O’Neill credited the oversight with Gray’s Market Street home to the coronavirus pandemic and the disruption it unleashed in early 2020.
“The updated values should be visible on the website [Friday]. The entire neighborhood should have been reassessed in 2020 but we postponed most reassessments that year due to covid uncertainty and we are still getting caught up. For the 2016 and prior reassessment years when this neighborhood was reviewed, we believe the values were correct,” O’Neill said.
The PVA conducts revaluation on a fourth of the homes in Fayette County each year on a rotating, four-year basis. Given O’Neill’s statement, Gray’s home should have been assessed in 2016, 2012 and 2008, along with 2020.
O’Neill clarified by email Friday afternoon: “The only time the value should have been changed [and] wasn’t was in 2020, because almost no neighborhood values changed. The property was assessed in 2016, 2012, etc., but no change in value was required. This is very common and was especially common during the recession years between 2007 and 2012. There was absolutely no intentional under assessment of this property at any time.”
By Friday morning, a change appeared to be in effect. The 2022 fair cash value for Gray’s home was listed at $525,000, more in line with what comparable homes in the area are currently valued at by Fayette County PVA.
The values of several other neighboring homes were also updated Friday.
Despite the changes, the fair cash value for Gray’s home between 2005 to 2021 remained at $315,000, according to the listing information at fayettePVA.com.
Gray, now the state’s Transportation Secretary, responded to a request for comment through his spokesperson Thursday afternoon.
“Jim thinks Lexington is a great place to live, and he always has and always will pay the taxes he’s assessed,” Gray’s spokesperson, Joanna Lankford, wrote in a text message.
Friday morning, Gray delivered the following statement during a second phone call: “If my house has been assessed lower than it should be then it needs to be corrected. To suggest I got special treatment is absolutely absurd, I certainly didn’t ask for it and I don’t need it.
“I gave half my salary to charity when I was mayor in the recession, for goodness sakes,” he continued. “This is David O’Neil’s responsibility and if he made a mistake he needs to own it and correct it. I’ll happily pay the taxes on any adjusted fair market value.”
Over the last roughly 17 years, homes along Market Street have seen sizable increases in their assessed property values, and are now at or well above $500,000, a review of houses on that street shows.
Many neighboring homes the Herald-Leader reviewed saw increases in value between 2005 and 2021, while Gray’s home remained unchanged, as listed through the fayettepva.com website. A few examples are included below.
The following fair cash home value information was retrieved Thursday from the listing database at fayettepva.com:
228 Market St. – 2005: $350,000; 2013: $400,000; 2016: $540,000; 2022: $575,000
242 Market St. – 2005: $550,000; 2016: $635,900; 2022: $635,900
248 Market St. - 2005: $420,000; 2013: $465,900; 2016: $561,000; 2022: $699,000
252 Market St. - 2005: $265,000; 2013: $335,600; 2016: $414,200; 2022: $475,000
258 Market St. - 2005: $255,000; 2008: $680,000; 2022: $680,000
O’Neill said any homeowner affected by the change will be contacted.
“They have been mailed reassessment notices, but likely have not received them yet,” O’Neill wrote in an email Friday. It is the first notice they have received.
Asked if he and Gray are friends, O’Neill wrote the following in an email response: “I openly supported his opponent, Amy McGrath for congress. I have nothing against him, but no, we are not buddies.”
Do you have a topic you’d like the Herald-Leader to dig into? We’d like to hear from you. Fill out the form below or email ask@herald-leader.com.
This story was originally published April 29, 2022 at 12:52 PM.