Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Fayette County schools won’t raise property tax rate

Given the economic challenges the coronavirus pandemic has brought to families in Lexington, Fayette Superintendent Manny Caulk said, he did not feel this was the right time to ask for a higher tax rate.

As a result of his recommendation, the school board decided for 2020-2021 to levy a total rate of 81.0 cents for real estate and 76.0 cents for personal property per $100 assessed valuation and a total motor vehicles property rate of 59.2 cents per $100 assessed valuation.

That is unchanged from last year.

Caulk said he was proud that for the third time in the five years since he was hired, Fayette County Public Schools had not raised property tax rates.

“This is especially significant considering that between 2000 and 2015, Fayette County Public Schools adopted the property tax rate that generated a 4 percent increase in revenue every year but one,” Caulk said.

Fayette County Public Schools will receive $255,387,832 from Fayette property owners, according to school board documents.

The working budget of $693,747,090 approved by the board Sept. 14 was predicated on no increase in the tax rate increase.

“I am fiscally conservative,” said Caulk. “...responsible budgeting is about living within your means and providing the best and most equitable education for students. If it becomes necessary to ask our community to pay higher taxes, I would want them to know where that money is going and what investments they are making.”

Caulk said that despite the fact that the district has kept the property tax rate the same three out of five years, it has still made significant progress, purchased a districtwide curriculum, hired more teachers to work with the most vulnerable student populations, expanded services, and implemented innovative programs like the Success Academy, Promise Academies and Rise STEM Academy for Girls.

He said Fayette County has been able to do all of that because of “tremendous partnerships” with the community, such as Commerce Lexington’s support of The Academies of Lexington, philanthropic investments in the district, the leadership of Fayette County Board of Education, and the team of finance and budgeting officers at the district level.

The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government also won’t raise property taxes this year. The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council voted unanimously Sept. 15 to keep property taxes at the same rate. The majority of property taxes in Kentucky go to school systems. The city’s main income source is a tax on wages or jobs called an occupational tax.

Herald-Leader staff writer Beth Musgrave contributed to this article.

This story was originally published September 21, 2020 at 10:26 AM.