Incumbent Kenton County Property Valuation Administrator Darlene Plummer has one Republican party primary challenger, Michael Constantino. The primary is scheduled for Tuesday, May 17.
Duties of a Property Valuation Administrator
A PVA’s job is to assess property at 100 percent fair market value, taking into consideration the property’s size, shape, location, use, and condition. The PVA also tracks property ownership changes, maintains maps, updates building characteristics, and administers proper exemptions for real property.
A key note is that the PVA office does not set property tax rates, nor does it collect property taxes. Taxing authorities such as cities, counties, and state governments, as well as school boards, determine the tax rate. All of the PVAs assessments are subject to final approval from the Kentucky Department of Revenue.
“People may not realize when they say, ‘you know, locally, that we’ve raised their values’,” Plummer said. “Those values are market driven and subject to Department of Revenue’s revenue certification, so if they don’t certify our numbers, the city and other taxing entities can’t set their rate and therefore, the tax bills aren’t going to go out in a timely manner.”
Darlene Plummer (R)
Plummer was first elected to the office in 2014. She has served as the Kenton County PVA for the past eight years, and has worked in the PVA office for over 20 years. She’s previously held positions such as the Chief Deputy PVA/Commercial Assessor.
Plummer is a Certified Kentucky Assessor, as well as a Senior Kentucky Assessor.
“Experience is paramount,” Plummer said. “We’ve accomplished many great things in my eight years as PVA. I’ve also been with the office for over 20 years. I’ve done almost everything and served in every vital capacity throughout the office. While we’ve accomplished many great things in eight years, there are so many great things that I’d like to leave as my legacy to the PVA office.”
Kenton County is the third largest county in terms of population within the Commonwealth of Kentucky. One of Plummer’s long term goals for the office is to implement a Computer Assisted Mass Appraisals system within the next four years.
“That will certainly assist in our efforts to in fair and equitable assessments,” Plummer said.
Since Plummer coming into office in 2014, she and her staff have automated the application process in order to minimize the amount of time citizens need to physically spend in the office.
Plummer said her bread and butter is giving the public of Kenton County great customer service. Plummer said she welcomes feedback from the public, positive or negative, on how well the office is performing their duties.
Continuing education regarding the office’s responsibilities is also an emphasis of Plummers. One of the ways she has done this is by sending her deputies to conferences, webinars, and working towards various degrees.
“I believe I’m a devoted and committed public servant,” Plummer said. “I’ve been honored to be elected eight years ago, and I hope that I can continue that because I think I have the experience. I still want to achieve many great things.”
Michael Constantino (R)
Michael Constantino is a retired firefighter and currently works as a realtor.
He is a former Fire Protection Supervisor for the United States Air Force, a Captain/Battalion Chief for the Kenton County Airport Board at CVG International Airport, and Fire Captain for the City of Edgewood. Constantino is now a realtor at Apex Realty Group. His wife Amber is the current Kenton County Coroner.
“I wanted to give back to the community,” Constantino said. “When I retired from the fire department, I was trying to think of ways I could give back.”
Constantino said he wants to eliminate payment for the general public to access certain information, improving the office’s mapping service, and improving the office’s website.
“To look up certain information on the PVA’s website, you can look up some information, but for a citizen to look up certain things, they have to pay extra to do that,” Constantino said. “To me, the people of our county should be able to do that for free. I can understand making people that do appraisals for commercial and residential realtors, and for appraisers, I can understand that, but I do not think the people of the county should have to pay.”
Constantino said his career as a firefighter has allowed to be able to communicate with city government officials in a productive manner. He also said his career as a realtor has enabled him to understand the appraisal process, such as comparing different houses and properties in order to get a fair price.
Constantino wants to make the position more user friendly to the residents of Kenton County. He wants to be able to educate the public on the intricacies of the office such as informing people on how the inner mechanisms of how the office works.
“Right now with property valuations soaring, I want the office to be more friendly to the public so people can better understand it,” Constantino said.
