County Tax Rates Decrease for 2024

Darren Doyle, story:
Tax rates are going down in Edmonson County after magistrates voted to drop the current rate of 13.2 cents per $100K in assessed value down to 12.6 cents.

The vote came during Monday's regular Fiscal Court meeting.

For Edmonson County taxpayers, this rate is only one of eight categories on Edmonson property tax bills, which also include taxes for State, School, Library, Ambulance, the Extension Office, Health Dept., and the Conservation District, with some also having Big Reedy Watershed Conservancy. Property tax bills also contain local fire dues by default, which a taxpayer can choose to have removed.

All tax rates are set by their respective offices, and acknowledged by the Fiscal Court. For 2024, the only rate that changed was the county rate, with all other rates staying the same.

A public comment hearing was held prior to the start of yesterday's regular meeting, however, no one from the public attended.

County tax rates have either dropped or remained the same in Edmonson County for the past several years. The rate was 13.9 from 2016 - 2020, then dropped to 13.8 in 2021, dropped again in 2022 to 13.7, then again to 13.2 last year.

The only other item on the agenda with discussion was county ordinance EC 19-27, which lists the guidelines for a private road being adopted into the county road system. District 2 Magistrate T.J. Massey said the residents of Fairview Court, located off Brownsville Road near Fairview United Baptist Church, have inquired about their road, which is currently privately owned.

In addition, the original owner is deceased and the owner's spouse does not want ownership anymore. Massey said there are about 15 residents on the road now and he felt it was worthy to re-examine the ordinance, as the way it is currently written, the road does not qualify to be adopted into the county system.

A committee was formed to address the issue, which included Massey, District 3 Magistrate Anthony Hennion, District 4 Magistrate Mickey Johnson, County Attorney Adam Turner, and possibly a member of the Edmonson County Planning Commission.

Besides a few family members of meeting participants, no one attended last night's meeting besides the court itself, county employees, and media.