About Lexington’s Urban Services and Tax Districting

The city of Lexington provides urban services to certain residents and property owners. There are three different types of urban services: refuse collection, streetlights, and street cleaning. The urban services received at a property’s location impacts how it is assessed for property taxes. There are currently seven total tax districts, which are identified by numbers and correspond to services as follows:

  • Tax District 1:  Full service – Trash, recycling, and yard waste collection, street lights, and street cleaning.
  • Tax District 2:  General Service – No additional services beyond standard, general services.
  • Tax District 3:  Partial Service – Waste collection (trash, recycling, and yard).
  • Tax District 4:  Partial Service – Street lights.
  • Tax District 5:  Partial Service – Waste collection (trash, recycling, and yard) and street lights.
  • Tax District 6:  Partial Service – Street lights and street cleaning.
  • Tax District 7:  Partial Service – Waste collection (trash, recycling, and yard) and street cleaning.

Since 1989, newly developed properties built along public streets have been placed in Tax District 1. When an area is developed to include a private street, streetlights and city street cleaning services are usually not provided. Therefore, properties developed along a private street are placed in Tax District 3, which includes only refuse collection.

Older areas, such as those built before the merger of the city and county governments, might have inherited the tax district designations that corresponded to the services that were available in those areas at the time.

Should residents wish to add city services, such as refuse collection, they can do so by petitioning the city for the additional services. Additional information on petitioning to add city services can be found online. If a petition is successful, the area included in the petition would be placed in the district that corresponds to services available to that area, including the additional petitioned services. 

Occasionally, the city will discover a property is in a district that does not correspond to the services that are being received by the property or to the services that are otherwise available to the area surrounding the property. In such an event, the city may seek to resolve the issue by placing the property in an appropriate district based on the services provided to the area. Property owners would receive notice and an opportunity to provide comments prior to any revision.

For additional information, the PVA’s website offers a tax district calculator as well as a schedule of rates and corresponding services available for each district. You may access those PVA resources by clicking here.

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