Is there a recall in the future for Fayette school’s property tax rate increase?

Jim Burton is among the Lexington residents who think the higher property tax rate approved last week by the Fayette school board is an “extremely bad move” that needs to be overturned by voters.

“Taking on massive debt is a poor use of taxpayers money,” Burton said.

For the 2021-22 fiscal year, homeowners in Fayette County paid property taxes of 80.8 cents per $100 of assessed value. Board members approved a rate Thursday that will go from 80.8 cents to 83.3 cents per $100 of assessed value.

That would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $25 more this year compared with 2021.

School district officials said the property tax rates would generate enough funding to complete more than half the projects on its current facilities plan.

“The use of bonds to fund school construction projects is not a Fayette County phenomenon,” said district spokesperson Lisa Deffendall. “This is a common and fiscally responsible practice.”

The increase can be recalled.

How does a recall work?

Fayette County Clerk Don Blevins said for that to happen, five people have to form what’s called a petition committee by filing an affidavit containing their names, addresses, and a few other requirements as required by state law.

Blevins has to publish notification of the committee in the newspaper and notify the school district that this is happening.

The committee members have 50 days from Friday to collect enough signatures to put it on the ballot. Only 5,000 names are required on the petition. If a petition has sufficient signatures, the school district will face a choice. They can either run a special election and pay ten of thousands for it or he said they can wait until the 2023 general election.

In 2018, when nearly 14,000 names were required at that time under the law, an effort to gather enough signatures to put Fayette County’s schools safety tax to a public vote failed.

Blevins and Burton said they were not aware of a specific effort for a recall of the property tax rate approved Thursday.

A case against the increase

In Burton’s view, construction should be staggered “so it’s not an overwhelming number of projects at one time.”

“As building life cycles expire around the same time, you’ll be in the same position to throw a bunch of projects together at once without proper attention and thoughtful consideration,” he said.

Burton said Fayette school are getting significantly more money following the PVA’s unprecedented assessments over the past 5 to 6 years.

“A higher tax base and a higher tax is simply not acceptable,” he said.

This story was originally published September 12, 2022 at 6:00 AM.