Independence has passed a resolution opposing a bill, which is currently moving through the legislative process in Frankfort, that would abolish property taxes on primary residences and vehicles.
“While I love the idea of no longer paying property taxes, as somebody who’s been sitting up here (in the mayor’s seat) for 16 years now, I’m not really sure how we would provide services without property taxes,” said Independence Mayor Chris Reinersman at a special meeting on Monday.
Independence now joins Fort Wright, which passed its own resolution opposing House Bill 75. Other Kenton County leaders have also expressed trepidation about the bill, which has multiple sponsorships from Northern Kentucky legislators, even if their cities have not passed explicit resolutions.
The bill would amend the Kentucky Constitution to exempt “a property owned and maintained solely as (a) primary residence and a motor vehicle owned and maintained solely as (a) primary vehicle,” according to the text of the bill. If passed, the exemption would take effect after 2028. Commercial properties, rental properties and other properties that don’t serve as a primary residence would still be taxed.
Kentucky Rep. TJ Roberts, a Republican from Burlington, is one of the primary advocates for the bill. Other Northern Kentucky legislators who are sponsoring the bill include Rep. Kim Banta and Rep. Marianne Proctor.
Roberts described property taxes as “the most immoral form of taxation” and pitched the bill as a way of defraying home-ownership costs for young, first-time home buyers, elderly home owners, and people on fixed incomes. He argued that property tax bills exacerbated the commonwealth’s housing shortage by making home ownership inaccessible.
As an alternative, he pitched moving funding of public services to a “consumption-based model,” i.e. sales taxes. Currently, the state has a flat sales tax of 6%, and it’s illegal for cities and counties to levy additional sales tax. A parallel bill, also sponsored by Roberts, would enable local jurisdictions to levy additional taxes if approved through a voter referendum.
Property taxes are a large chunk of city budgets, although many larger cities have tried to move most of their revenue structure away from property taxes and onto occupational taxes.
“Our estimate would be about $4.5 million dollars of our $14+ million budget,” Reinersman said.
Fort Wright’s resolution put the projected loss at $1,065,755.
Erlanger Mayor Jessica Fette has also expressed concern about the bill. She shared these concerns with the Kenton County Mayors Group and wrote about her concerns in a letter to Roberts. Fette told LINK nky the bill showed a “lack of understanding” of how public funding worked.
“House Bill 75 would be financially devastating for cities like Erlanger,” Fette writes. “Erlanger’s adopted (fiscal year) 2026 budget shows that property tax revenues account for more than 22% of total operating income (over $4.6 million annually) supporting the essential services residents rely on every day, including police, fire, public works and parks. Eliminating the ability to collect property taxes on primary residences and vehicles would remove one of the few stable and predictable sources of local revenue, forcing communities into an impossible position: cut core services or find alternative ways to generate revenue that ultimately still fall on local residents.”
The Independence city council members did not think highly of the bill.
“It’d be bad on cities like us,” said Council Member Greg Steffen, “but think of what it would do some of these smaller cities. Lakeside Park appears prosperous, but most of those houses there are owner occupied, and they have no business to speak of.”
“I would be much more amendable to their positions if they weren’t giving exemptions to multi-billion dollar corporations,” said Roberts when asked about the concerns of local leaders. Cities will sometimes grant tax exemptions to companies to relocate in their borders and generate tax revenue.
The council members weren’t optimistic about the bill’s future.
“I don’t think it’s going to make it out of committee,” said Council Member Greg Waite.