How much do taxing districts collect in taxes? This KY bill will make it easier to track
A new Kentucky Senate bill would make it easier for taxpayers to know and track how each local taxing district spends taxpayer money.
Senate Bill 218, filed Tuesday by Sen. Amanda Mays Bledsoe, would require Kentucky Department of Revenue to provide a single online location so taxpayers can see all financial information for each taxing district in their county.
Those local property taxing districts can include city, county governments and public school districts. It also can include other such taxing districts as county health departments, soil and water conservation districts and county extension services.
“As a former city council member, I have an appreciation for a desire to make local government more accessible and understandable to constituents,” said Bledsoe, a Lexington Republican.
“Taxpayers especially deserve to see where their money goes without having to jump through hoops or comb through bureaucracy to get answers. (This bill) ensures financial reports are easy to find, whether online or at a local library.”
Bledsoe served on the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council for eight years.
Currently, there is no central location for taxpayers to find out how much each taxing district collects, the Lexington Herald-Leader revealed in a December 2024 story.
Lexington has six special property tax districts that receive money from local property taxes: Fayette County Public Schools, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, Lexington-Fayette County Health Department, Fayette County Extension Service, the Fayette County Conservation District and Lextran.
Some local taxing districts voluntarily post financial information online. Others do not.
In November, Fayette County voters also approved a new parks tax that would generate up to $8 million a year for capital parks projects. The new tax will be collected on property taxes starting in January 2026.
At a Tuesday Lexington council committee meeting, Monica Conrad, director of parks and recreation for the city, said her department will return to council in March with more details about what types of projects the new tax will fund.
Conrad also said they are working on ways to ensure taxpayers can track how the new parks tax is spent.
In total, Fayette County property owners paid $479.3 million in property taxes last year, according to a Herald-Leader analysis. That figure excludes an additional property tax paid by downtown property owners for the Downtown Lexington Management District.
If passed, the legislation would require:
- The Department of Revenue create a central web page linking to financial reports for every local taxing authority.
- Local governments must publish their financial reports on their websites, if they maintain one, and provide a direct link to the report.
- If a local government does not have a website, it must submit its financial report to the county library, where it will be available to the public.
- By 2026, all local governments must notify the Department of Revenue where their financial report can be accessed.
