Covington residents are getting a big property tax cut.The city of Covington has cut the property tax rate by 17 percent. The new rate translates to $2.71 per each $1,000 in assessed value of the real estate, down from the $3.27 rate that’s been constant since the 2017 calendar year, city officials said. Meaning that the owner of a $100,000 home would pay $271 for the year in city property taxes, compared to $327 the year before.The new rate is just a little over a third of what it was in the mid-1970s, city officials said.“The tax rate has never been lower,” City Manager Ken Smith told the Commission.Covington also lowered its personal property tax rate from 0.349 to 0.328.Tax bills will be sent out on Sept. 15. The decrease was possible because the total worth of real property in the City increased dramatically since last year, from $3.16 billion to $3.85 billion, interim Finance Director Jerome Heist said. The increase was tied to new construction, increasing in the housing market and a reassessment of property values.“In my 22 years here at the City, I’ve never seen an increase that large,” Heist said in a statement. But not everyone is getting a tax cut, city officials said. “Let me just explain a fact of life to everybody: Not everybody is going to get a tax cut,” the mayor said. “There are those who will be paying more because their assessment has gone up – but they will not be paying as much as they would have under the previous tax rate,” Mayor Joe Meyer said.
Covington residents are getting a big property tax cut.
The city of Covington has cut the property tax rate by 17 percent.
The new rate translates to $2.71 per each $1,000 in assessed value of the real estate, down from the $3.27 rate that’s been constant since the 2017 calendar year, city officials said. Meaning that the owner of a $100,000 home would pay $271 for the year in city property taxes, compared to $327 the year before.
The new rate is just a little over a third of what it was in the mid-1970s, city officials said.
“The tax rate has never been lower,” City Manager Ken Smith told the Commission.
Covington also lowered its personal property tax rate from 0.349 to 0.328.
Tax bills will be sent out on Sept. 15.
The decrease was possible because the total worth of real property in the City increased dramatically since last year, from $3.16 billion to $3.85 billion, interim Finance Director Jerome Heist said. The increase was tied to new construction, increasing in the housing market and a reassessment of property values.
“In my 22 years here at the City, I’ve never seen an increase that large,” Heist said in a statement.
But not everyone is getting a tax cut, city officials said.
“Let me just explain a fact of life to everybody: Not everybody is going to get a tax cut,” the mayor said. “There are those who will be paying more because their assessment has gone up – but they will not be paying as much as they would have under the previous tax rate,” Mayor Joe Meyer said.
