Property Tax Rates to Drop in Louisville

Seriously? Did I type that headline correctly? Actually, I did! The urban district is moving from 49.83 to 49.31 cents per $100, while the remainder of the metro area will decline as well, from 12.6 to 12.55.

Now, the question on everyone’s mind must be, “Did our elected officials just grow hearts and decide to show kindness to our over-taxed populace?” The sneaky truth is actually that their hands were tied.

Jane Driskell, metro government’s chief financial officer, told the committee that state law allows tax receipts to grow by only 4 percent in any given year. [link]

Since overall property values have grown in Louisville (unlike many parts of the U.S.), Metro government was forced to drop the rates in other to keep the overall revenue growth under 4%.

So while our politicians aren’t the kind-hearted humanitarians we might have hoped, at least our taxes are not ballooning out of control. Now, if we could only reduce that 4% number.