After receiving their highest property tax bill ever, the VFW Post 696 recently paid off their bill in full with the help of donations from individuals and businesses.
Located at 311 Veterans Boulevard on the edge of the Ohio River since 1946, the VFW owed nearly $30,000 in total property taxes to the City and County.
According to Commander Joey Benningfield, $20,434.86 was owed to the City and another $7,000 was owed to the County.
Roughly $15,600 of the City property tax was owed to Owensboro Public Schools, while about $4,800 was owed to the City of Owensboro — leaving the real property tax rate unchanged for the 2019-2020 fiscal year at 26.6 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
“We knew it was coming — we made changes about a year ago to prepare,” Benningfield said.
Because the VFW is located in such a prime area for development and real estate, its property value was assessed at $1,805,200 — up $1,280,200 since its last required valuation assessment was taken in 2015.
Benningfield said a huge portion of the property tax bill was paid by Grover Gaming, Inc. after the VFW installed the company’s electronic gaming software in their building. Grover Gaming paid for $15,000 of the total costs.
Another $2,500 was donated by members of the community, and the rest was raised through fundraising efforts and money saved by the VFW.
Despite the high property taxes, Benningfield said the VFW is not going anywhere.
“It’s valued at a lot of money, but we’re not in this for the money,” he said. “This place has been here since 1946.”
Benningfield said the blame should not be placed on local government because they were going by state law, and he encouraged everyone to call their legislators and support HB153.
The bill was drafted by former State Representative DJ Johnson (Ky-R) and would allow veteran service organizations that are exempt from federal income taxes under 501(c)19 guidelines to also be exempt from paying city or county property taxes, if the groups’ charitable activities make up a majority of their overall activities.
Benningfield said last year’s property tax bill took a huge toll on the VFW’s ability to donate money to the community.
“Last year, the VFW donated to $20,000 to the community,” he said. “We had to change how much we donate after receiving that bill. It affects the money I can give to vets in need. We help so many veterans in need, it’s unreal.”
