The first of three public hearings on the 2020 property tax rate to be levied by the Fayette County Board of Education will be held Aug. 17. Though proposed to decrease from last year, the millage rate would represent a tax increase due to growth in the tax digest.

The Maintenance and Operation millage rate is proposed at 19.15 mills, which would be down from the current 19.25 mills. The decrease still represents a property tax increase.

Assistant Superintendent for Finance Tom Gray at the meeting reported that the gross tax digest increased by $363.1 million, or 5.44 percent, and with the net digest increasing $243.1 million, of 4.48 percent.

To avoid levying a tax increase, the school board would have to adopt the rollback rate of 18.654 mills. The rollback rate is the millage rate that would assess the same amount of property tax dollars as the prior year.

The proposed rate is 19.15 mills, or .496 mills above the rollback rate, a 2.66 percent tax increase.

The increase equates to an additional $63.49 increase for a homestead property valued at $325,000, and a $54.56 increase for a non-homestead property valued at $275,000.

The FY 2021 General Fund budget adopted last week totaled $228.84 million, with $105.8 million coming from property taxes and 1.2 million from motor vehicle taxes. The school board to balance the budget also used approximately $10.1 million in reserves.

Pertaining to the bond millage rate, the proposal would have that rate set at 1.18 mills, down from the current 1.271 mills

The school board will hold three public hearings on the millage rate increase. Two of those will be held on Aug. 17, at noon and 6 p.m. The third, along with the millage adoption, will be held on Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. All meetings will be held at the school system’s central office on Lafayette Avenue.