Erlanger City to hold special meeting for 2025 tax-rate first reading; staff recommends compensating rates

Councilors agreed to hold a special meeting next Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. for the first reading of Erlanger City's 2025 property and tangible tax rates, with the second reading and vote scheduled for the Sept. 2 council meeting so the required notices can be printed in time.

Finance Director and HR Director Kara Kramer provided the staff recommendation to adopt the compensating rate — a rate adjustment that offsets assessed-value growth — for both real property and tangible property. Kramer reported that real property assessments rose 1.4%, totaling about $1,890,000,000 in assessed value, and tangible property assessments rose 11.5%, totaling about $188,000,000.

Under the staff recommendation, the real-property tax rate would move from 0.247 to 0.244 and the tangible-property tax rate would move from 0.198 to 0.178. Kramer said those tax-rate changes still leave estimated revenues exceeding budget estimates by about $227,000.

Kramer and other staff discussed a possible later reduction in the insurance premium tax rate. Kramer said an additional quarter-point reduction in the insurance premium tax rate (from 9.50 to 9.25) would lower revenue by about $134,948.64 based on 2024 total insurance premium tax revenue of approximately $5,100,000. Kramer said the council could consider that change in January after audited financials are available in December.

Council members asked for a special meeting next Tuesday so the city can comply with publishing timelines; the first reading will be at that special meeting and the second reading and vote will occur at the regularly scheduled Sept. 2 meeting. No final vote on the tax rates was taken at the caucus; members set the schedule for formal readings and the subsequent vote.

Kara Kramer and staff materials provided the numerical estimates reported at the caucus; the audit will supply final figures in December for any later insurance-premium-tax decisions.