© 2026 WUKY
background_fid.jpg
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Bill seeks to ease property tax burden on older Kentuckians

FILE - A sign announcing a home for sale is posted outside a home, Feb. 1, 2024, in Aceworth, Ga., near Atlanta. Georgia lawmakers gave final approval Thursday, March 28, 2024, to a package of legislation they hope will limit property tax increases, in what could be Republicans' signature tax cutting effort of the 2024 session. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)
Mike Stewart/AP
/
AP
FILE - A sign announcing a home for sale is posted outside a home, Feb. 1, 2024, in Aceworth, Ga., near Atlanta. Georgia lawmakers gave final approval Thursday, March 28, 2024, to a package of legislation they hope will limit property tax increases, in what could be Republicans' signature tax cutting effort of the 2024 session. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

Kentucky homeowners 65 and over could see their property tax assessments frozen under a bill that moved out of committee Wednesday.

Sen. Mike Nemes said older Kentuckians, especially those on a fixed income, are grappling with rising costs due to ballooning property tax assessments.

Under his proposal, homeowners over 65 who use the home in question as their primary residence would see their assessments locked in to place. Nemes says they would still be responsible for rate increases imposed by localities.

"If they think they need more revenue than they got the year before and the assessments didn't account for that because they budgeted for an increase in assessments — let's say the housing market did not increase — then they could raise the rate and the elderly will pay that extra rate," he said.

The proposal cleared a committee Wednesday, with one Democratic lawmaker suggesting it would be improved if the bill were means-tested for those in higher income brackets.