The City’s real estate tax levy is proposed to increase from 25 cents per $100 assessed value to 25.5 cents per $100 assessed value. For a property owner with a home assessed at $50,000, this half penny increase equals an increase in their property tax bill of $2.50. The City’s Compensating Rate, the rate that would keep the revenue at the same amount as 2013, is 24.6 cents per $100 assessed value. Kentucky Revised Statutes permits a city to adjust the compensating rate upward by not more than 4 percent. Please note that the City’s real estate tax rate has dropped significantly over the past nearly two decades from 43.8 cents per $100 assessed value in 1995. In a survey of 18 Kentucky cities taken October 2012, Paducah’s tax rate fell in the middle of those surveyed. Also on the tax bill, residents may notice a change in the amount going to the Paducah Independent School District. This summer the school board raised its tax rate by two cents. The school district’s increase equals a $10 increase on the tax bill for a home assessed at $50,000.
The ordinance also outlines the levies for the Paducah Independent School System and the Paducah Junior College. A document showing citizens how to calculate their property tax bill is located on the city’s website, www.paducahky.gov, under the Finance Department. For example, a home assessed at $50,000 in the City of Paducah and in the Paducah Independent School District will generate a property tax bill of $519.50.