Fayette County group files notice to recall increased school property tax rate

A committee of citizens has filed an affidavit with the Fayette County Clerk to formally begin the petition process to recall the Fayette County Public School board property tax rate vote.

“Our focus is ...the mission of ensuring a transparent, timely process so the public has the necessary time to digest the information being presented in a manner that voters can understand,” said Jim Burton, one of the people who signed the petition.

Other people who signed the affidavit are Jonathan Senters, Rock Daniels, David Jones and Richard Getty.

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 recently 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.

“It is my sincere hope (the school board) will take immediate action to put the brakes on their vote, reopen the entire discovery process publicly, methodically and with sufficient time for public review, questions, feedback and consensus before a new vote occurs. If that cannot be done, then the voters of Fayette County may have to step in and make the decision for them,” Burton said.

Fayette County Clerk Don Blevins said the committee has until October 28 to deliver at least 5,000 names on the petition. If a petition has sufficient signatures, the school district will face a choice: They can vote to set their tax rate back so the district is getting an increase of 4% revenue; they can run a special election January 3 to decide the recall and pay about $400,000 for it; or they can wait until the 2023 general election.

“It’s my firm belief that the school board needs to roll back the rate to a 4% rate and put a stop to this,” Blevins said.

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.

Each year, the Department of Revenue certifies the property values of each county as assessed by the Property Valuation Administrator. The State Board of Education uses the previous year’s revenues from the County Board of Education and, coupled with the new property values, they calculate a tax rate that will produce this same amount of revenue. This rate is called the “compensating rate.” Since property values typically rise each year, the compensating rate is usually slightly lower than the previous year’s tax rate.

A school board may use the compensating rate, or they may increase revenue by ratifying a higher rate. If the higher rate produces revenue that is more than 4% higher than the previous year, then the portion of the tax rate above 4% is subject to recall.

School district officials declined to comment.

This story was originally published September 16, 2022 at 2:04 PM.