LEXINGTON, Ky. — In September, the Fayette County school board announced plans to raise the property tax within the county.
Specifically, the board of education approved a property tax rate increase of 83.3 cents for every $100 in assessed value. By comparison, for the 2021-22 fiscal year, homeowners in Fayette County paid property taxes of 80.8 cents per $100 of assessed value.
Since the announcement, though, people in the community have petitioned against the decision and are asking for signatures to bring the tax increase to a recall vote. One such person is Rock Daniels, who’s also running for a seat on Lexington’s urban county council.
“If they listened to the community and heard the needs of the community, the community would say, ‘Yes we do want to build one or two schools right now but we can’t go on this multi-million almost billion dollars spending spree, you know it’s not worth it right now not for our community.’”
Funds from the tax will go toward improving several of Lexington’s school’s in a strict time period.
Last month, regarding the new tax increase, Fayette County board chair Tyler Murphy said, “Every student in the Fayette County Public Schools deserves to learn in a building that prepares them for the future.” Murphy added, “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.”
Council member Jennifer Reynolds has worked to fund central Kentucky’s infrastructure safety needs like its Versailles Road Corridor Project of 2022. She currently serves as the 11th district chair and is the incumbent opponent of Daniels in this year’s upcoming election.
Council member Jennifer Reynolds says she and the city support the school’s renovation and building efforts. Still, she would like to see more framework for this plan.
“They have a huge budget and they’ve already bought a lot of properties, you know, with the idea that they will build new schools including one in the 11th district, but they don’t have firm plans of what they’re going to do with that property yet.” council Reynolds said.
Daniels and nearly 5,000 petitioners will need signatures by Oct. 28 to see progress toward a recall.