County Budget: By the Numbers

The Fayette County Commissioners Court held a public hearing over next year’s budget on Monday, Sept. 9.

No one from the public spoke during the hearing. The 9 a.m. meeting lasted all of six minutes.

Overall expenses next year were set at just over $36.1 million. The County expects to generate about $36,645,737 in revenue. Most of the County’s revenue, an estimated $22,471,211.41, will come from property taxes.

Commissioners have set the new property tax rate at $0.41189 per $100 of taxable property. That’s a slight decrease from the current rate of $0.41196. However, due to rising property values and new construction, the County will collect an additional $2,258,234 in property tax revenue next year, which amounts to an 11.015 percent tax increase.

The majority of that increase comes from rising property appraisals. The amount of revenue raised from new property added to the tax roll this year was only $796,056.

The chart below shows the growth in County property tax revenue and County Expenses over the last five years. Although the property tax rate has fallen during that time property tax revenue has increased due to rising property values, and to a lesser extent, the construction of new property. County expenses have increased by nearly 46 percent during that time period.