Residents in Hopkins County will soon be paying slightly higher taxes after a unanimous decision by the county school board yesterday.
These funds will go toward school improvements such as technology upgrades, new buses and teacher payroll.
Real estate rates will be raised by four percent, taxing 62.1 cents per $100 of assessed property value. Personal property is also taxed at that rate, while the motor vehicle rate was raised to 54.7 cents per $100.
The hike in Hopkins County is the first in three years.
The new rates are relatively high for our region. According to documents from the State Department of Education, Union County also has one of the highest rates in western Kentucky at 54.2 percent. The lowest is Caldwell at 37.6 cents per $100.
Real estate taxes in general have steadily gone up in the commonwealth over the last decade. From 2003 to present, the average rate has risen from 48.8 cents per $100 to 58.3 cents in nearly a 20 percent increase.
Below is a rundown for other Kentucky schools' 2013-14 real estate tax rates from highest to lowest.