By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Reporter
The
perception in Fort Thomas is the majority of the property taxes go toward
funding the highly-ranked schools.
While that
is true, Fort Thomas City Administrative Officer Don Martin wanted to clear up a huge misconception.
The city does not operate the Fort Thomas Independent School System.
“The school system, through its Board of Education,
establishes its tax rate separate from the city. The city, through its Board of
Council, establishes its tax rate,”
Martin said. “The school contracts with
the city to send bills and collect property taxes on behalf of the school.
Because the property owners are writing the checks to the city, they assume it
is all ‘city taxes’ when in fact, the ‘city tax’ is about 30 percent of the
total bill.”
The city’s
tax rate is $3.60 per $1,000 of the assessed property value while the school
system’s rate is $9.50. A tax bill for a house with a $200,000 value would be
$720 in city taxes and $1,900 in school taxes making the overall bill $2,620.
The city
tax rate ranks 13th highest out of 36 cities in Northern Kentucky on a chart
Martin e-mailed a few weeks ago. Crestview Hills came in the lowest at $1.52
per the same value and Elsmere was highest at $5.46.
The city
property taxes go toward a number of things such as employee pay, benefits and
insurance and the mandatory contribution toward the state retirement system.
Martin also listed the maintenance of parks, shelters and recreation
facilities, the purchase of public works, police and fire vehicles, waste
collection, general liability insurance, construction supplies, utility bills
which include street lights throughout Fort Thomas, snow removal among many
other items and programs as places where the city spends tax dollars.
Martin said
before that keeping up with rising insurance costs and mandatory state pension
contributions rank as the biggest problems Fort Thomas faces. But those are not
always the biggest issues.
“When large ticket capital items need to be replaced,
the city must determine a best course of action,” Martin said. “We
have been very fortunate that the city has been able to obtain grant funds to
offset the majority of the cost for our most recent fire truck purchase and
life squad purchase.”
Property
taxes fluctuate on a yearly basis. Martin said the average amounts of paid
increases average four percent annually, which is the state-allowed limit.
Property taxes went down 2.62 percent in 2010 before going up 3.89 percent in
2011 and another 3.75 in 2012. The current tax rate is the highest it has been
since 1989 when it was about $3.49 per $1,000 of assessed property value. The
lowest the property taxes have been in recent years is $2.90 in 1994.
“If property values increase, then the property tax
rates may actually decrease,” Martin
said. “If the property values decrease
or remain flat, as happens in a sluggish economy, then the property tax rates
increase. This fluctuation in tax rates as a result of the fluctuation in
property values helps provide a consistent property tax revenue stream to
ensure the residents receive the essential city services from Fort Thomas.”
Great information. Had no idea the city collected taxes for the schools.
ReplyDeleteGreat HALF of the story. It would be appropriate to explain WHY school taxes are relatively high....namely that communities like Fort Thomas are singled out under the train wreck, convervence of factors including property taxes in suburbs, property tax exemption for agricultural land, (most of the state) HB44 / KRS160.470 "the 4% rate increase allowance" and the clearly biased way that the SEEK school funding formula siphons off tax dollars from the suburbs of Greater Lexington, Greater Louisville and Northern Kentucky and spends our revenue around the state, forcing us to either accept sub-standard schools, (property values) or tax ourselves A SECOND TIME to simply adequately, (below state average) fund our local schools. Under state law at least 51% of funding for ALL schools shall come from the General Assembly. Fort Thomas gets approximately 35%, one of the lowest out of 174 districts statewide. Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate has been begging us to file litigation for 7 years, but nobody with a checkbook / clout seems to feel that the chronic loss of state revenue, (20% of budget lost in 20 years and counting) is worth doing something about. ~Scott Johnson, Fort Thomas School Board / scottwjohnson2018@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteShocker!
ReplyDeleteWealthy people have their taxes re-distributed to poorer people?
When did this start? (we really need a sarcasm font)
You are on the school board.. why doesn't the board file suit?