Taxes for more than 100,000 property owners will go up. Find out why, by how much
Over 100,000 Lexington homeowners and business owners who pay for street lights will see that portion of their property tax bill increase come January.
During a Thursday Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council meeting, the council voted 11-3 to up the property tax for street lights to make up an average of $2 million annually.
For an average home with an assessed value of $235,000, the increase will go from $47 to $63.45, or a roughly 35% increase. Other city services such as street cleaning and garbage pick up will remain the same.
Not all property owners pay for street lights. Only homeowners in certain taxing districts will see their portion of Fayette County property tax bills go up. According to city records, the increase will effect 100,230 parcels or property owners. The city last increased street light taxes in 2019 but the average increase was less than 50 cents.
The city has been subsidizing the street light fund using general fund revenues rather than relying on money generated from the street light tax.
The city’s general fund portion of property taxes — which pays for all other city services such as personnel, police, fire and paving —will remain largely the same. The tax rate will go down but because property values have increased, the amount property owners will pay will remain about the same.
Still, some council members have previously said they were hesitant to increase the tax, saying the increase was too steep. The council took its first vote on the increase at an Aug. 15 meeting.
Those who voted against the street light tax include Preston Worley, Fred Brown and Chuck Ellinger.
Those who voted in favor include James Brown, Shayla Lynch, Hannah LeGris, Liz Sheehan, Brenda Monarrez, Denise Gray, Dan Wu, Kathy Plomin, Jennifer Reynolds, Whitney Elliott Baxter and David Sevigny. Council member Tayna Fogle was absent.
Sevigny later made a motion to put the issue of city services paid for with property taxes into a council committee. In addition to street lights, property owners pay a separate tax for street cleaning and trash and recycling pick up, depending on their taxing district.
Because the increase in the street light tax is more than 4%, the tax increase is subject to a recall vote. That means 10% of all voters in the 2020 November general election, or 15,406 people, will have to sign a petition to get the tax on a ballot for an up or down vote. Those wishing to gather signatures have 50 days to do so.
Previous efforts to recall Fayette County Public School property tax rate hikes have failed to gather the necessary signatures to put the issue to voters.
This story was originally published September 1, 2023 at 11:41 AM.
