City commission votes to adopt lower personal property tax rate, refunding of bonds

September 18, 2019 | 3:10 am

Updated September 17, 2019 | 10:30 pm

City commissioners voted in unanimous approval Tuesday on the proposed property tax rate for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. This tax rate will keep real property and vehicle taxes the same as last year while decreasing personal property taxes for residents of Owensboro. Personal property taxes will lower by 1.35 cents per $100 of assessed valuation of personal property.

According to Director of Finances and Support Services Angela Hamric, the City did not take the full allowable increase on ad valorem taxes this year, meaning the resulting calculated rate of personal property is 28.09. The City will see $39,046 in less personal property tax revenue than in 2018-2019.

“We proposed no change to the real estate rate from last year, leaving it at 26.6 cents per $100 evaluation,” said City Manager Nate Pagan. “A property at $100,000 would pay $266 of property taxes to the City.”

City commissioners also voted in unanimous approval to refinance, or refund, five previous bonds through the issuance of a new series of the bonds. Each series of bonds will be sold and awarded to the successful bidder, helping the City and its taxpayers to save money. In all, experts predict Owensboro will save $5.5 million by adopting this ordinance.

Pagan has assured that this ordinance will not issue any new debt to the City, but will help take care of current debt.

The five prior bonds total $65,585,000 in debt service to the City and were issued between the years 2011-2019. These bonds were issued to cover the construction of the downtown parking garage, Smothers Park development and multiple phases of the downtown revitalization project.

September 18, 2019 | 3:10 am

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