LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Fayette County Board of Education on Thursday voted to advance increased property tax rates that would allow the district to complete over half of its current needed projects. 

The rate approved Thursday night for the 2022-23 fiscal year is 83.3 cents per $100 of assessed value, up from 80.8 cents during the 2021-22 fiscal year. That means someone owning a home worth $100,000 would pay $833 in annual property taxes, a $25 increase between the two years.

The new rate would enable the board to borrow $540 million to modernize school facilities and build new schools to accommodate explosive housing growth throughout the county.

“Every student in the Fayette County Public Schools deserves to learn in a building that prepares them for the future,” said board Chair Tyler Murphy. “The current reality is that more than half of our school buildings have not been renovated in the past 25 years and one in 10 students in our district is learning in a portable classroom.”

The district’s current list of building needs tops $1 billion.

“Our community had the foresight 15 years ago to invest in school facilities and construction,” said Superintendent Demetrus Liggins. “Since then, FCPS has grown by nearly 8,000 students and 34 of the district’s 64 school buildings are new or completely modernized to meet 21st century standards.”

Every year, school boards in Kentucky are required to set local property tax rates that generate revenue to fund their public schools. It's a routine matter that happens each August, and the choice board members face is based on the total value of property in their county.

“The current landscape created a unique opportunity for FCPS to generate a nickel’s worth of funding for just 2.5 cents,” Murphy said. “We felt this was a fiscally responsible and sound decision for now and the future.”

Without the additional investment, FCPS would only be able to complete three projects and would have to wait until 2037 to tackle any others, the school board said.