Ludlow will see a competitive city council race for the General Election on Nov. 8; the mayoral race, however, is uncontested.
The current Ludlow Mayor, Josh Boone, is not seeking reelection this term. Current councilmember Chris Wright is looking to be elected Mayor.
Wright has been on the council since 2018 and is an assistant principal at Dayton High School. He is a fifth-generation Ludlow High School graduate, and his son will continue the legacy as a sixth-generation graduate, he said.
“When folks my age graduate from college, we all kind of disperse and then work our way back,” Wright said. “And I think that’s really exciting. I think it says a lot about the region, and I think we recognize that this is a great community to raise our kids.”
Wright and six council candidates appeared together at a forum on Thursday.
Wright said the town’s walkability is a selling point for people looking to move to Ludlow. He said his family likes being able to push a stroller down the street and pop into the local Ludlow Coffee shop.
“If you look at Bellevue, and this is not a knock on Bellevue, but we have a similar aesthetic as far as Elm Street and Fairfield Avenue, and generally, our housing taxes are significantly lower,” Wright said. “You do have the opportunity to have that proximity to downtown, similar to what you’re getting with Bellevue, and you’re still in a very walkable community.”
A project Wright said he would like to see in Ludlow, should he be elected, is the Riverfront Commons project. The project is an more than 11-mile stretch of multi-use path across multiple Northern Kentucky cities and much work has already been completed in Covington, Newport, Bellevue, and Dayton, and will allow pedestrians to walk and bike among the cities.
He said it could be difficult to see pedestrians and cyclists along Elm Street with parked cars and hidden signage, and the community needs to be “welcoming and safe” for those people.
Three incumbents on the city council are seeking reelection, Brie Banks, Julie Terry-Navarre, and Stephen Chapman, Sr. Current council members Vanetta Davis and Tiffany Grider are not running for reelection.Â
Chapman and Terry-Navarre have both completed two terms as council members. Banks has served on the council for one term.Â
Four newcomers — Lori Davenport, Samantha Matthews Frank, Abigail Miller, and Araminta Knight – are also looking to be elected this November. Â
Banks was not in attendance at the Ludlow forum, but the other six candidates were. Here are their responses to some of the top issues facing Ludlow and our region.Â
Julie Terry Navarre:
Terry Navarre said she is seeking a third term on council because she has seen progress and wants it to continue. She said she wants to help the city grow and maintain the fiscal responsibilities that they have accomplished so far.
Some of those she noted were the Lemker Field and Memorial Park projects.
The top issue facing Ludlow:
“We were able to lower the tax rate this year, and that was a great thing for the community, but things are expensive, and in order to continue to be able to lower your tax rate, we’re going to need to bring investments into the city,” Terry Navarre said. “We’re going to either need to bring large developments or businesses or more housing to get more taxes. And I think that’s one way that we as a council can begin to facilitate the lowering of taxes. And increasing the population of the city, which cannot increase now. We are landlocked with the houses we have.”
Thoughts on bringing in more development to help increase payroll tax and lower property tax:
“I totally agree that we need to have more development in Ludlow,” Terry Navarre said. “I don’t necessarily want gigantic industrial buildings.”
She further explained more entertainment and more businesses would bring more people into the city.
“The payroll tax is critical to lowering our property tax, and the only way to do that is to bring more businesses to town,” Terry Navarre said.
Stephen Chapman:
Chapman said he is seeking a third term on the council to continue ensuring the city stays fiscally responsible, spends taxpayer money to benefit Ludlow residents, and tries to keep the taxes as low as possible.
The top issue facing Ludlow:
Chapman said in 2018; they were the highest-taxed city in the Northern Kentucky area. Â
He said the reason the tax was so high is that the state uses a formula that includes assessed property that is available for taxation (about $288 million in Ludlow), add personal property (about $15 million), and then come up with a formula.
“The reason why we were able to lower the tax rate this year by 13.6% is because Ludlow was reassessed, all the property in Ludlow, and it gave us 65 million more in assessed dollars to tax,” Chapman said.
He said they need to develop if the city wants to keep property taxes down.
Thoughts on bringing in more development to help increase payroll tax and lower property tax:
Chapman said only about 14% of the commercial property goes toward the tax revenue, so the city relies heavily on residential properties. He said commercial development helps reduce the tax rate and allows the city to invest in its sidewalks, streets, etc.
Lori Davenport:
Davenport said she is running for council because she has fallen in love with the city and its people after moving to the town two years ago. She said one thing she would like to do should she be elected is crack down on absentee landlords.
The top issue facing Ludlow:
“I would like to see more of a community getting together and cleaning up. There’s so many weeds, and alleyways are a mess; garbage sitting around it just hurts our image as a city,” Davenport said. “We have empty properties sitting around that we could be making money on with taxes by turning them into livable places.”
Thoughts on bringing in more development to help increase payroll tax and lower property tax:
“I’m in between. I love the hometown feel, but I also like bringing in payroll tax,” Davenport said. “It has to match the architecture here already, but I think our way out is payroll tax.”
Samantha Matthews Frank:
Matthews Frank said she is seeking her first term on the council because she has lived in the city for almost five years and wants to get involved and have a say in what goes on in the community.
The top issue facing Ludlow:
“My biggest thing right now is accessibility, and that can go a million different ways. I think the riverfront trail (Riverfront Commons project) is a huge thing for Ludlow,” Matthews Frank said. “I rode my bike here tonight. Cyclist safety is a huge thing; pedestrian safety is a huge thing because this is such a walkable city.”
In her plans to make the city more walkable, Matthews Frank said she would like to apply for state and federal grant money to fix the sidewalks in Ludlow.
Thoughts on bringing in more development to help increase payroll tax and lower property tax:
“I think Ludlow is small, it’s cute, it’s quaint, it’s quirky, and I think that’s what we all love about it,” Matthews Frank said. “We don’t want to be Covington, we don’t want these giant skyscrapers here, but I think there is space for corporate businesses.”
She said they could put cubicles in a small building, and the more businesses, the better. Matthews Frank noted that there is still room on Elm Street for companies to move into and that more money for the city is great for everyone.
Abigail Miller:
Miller said she is running for city council to bring a voice for people outside the business and historic districts. She also said she would be a voice for residents of six months or six years and renters, whom she noted sometimes get a bad reputation in Ludlow.
The top issue facing Ludlow:
“I would like to look into lowering the property tax,” Miller said. “I own two pieces of property, so I’m probably double interested. I want to look at why our property tax is so high. I want to look at if it is appropriate for a city of our size.”
She said she also wants to look into how the city uses the property tax.
Thoughts on bringing in more development to help increase payroll tax and lower property tax:
“I look at bringing in businesses here with a very sharp eye,” Miller said. “Back in my day, I grew up in Ludlow when it was really small town, Ludlow. And I’d love to keep as much of that small-town feel here as possible.”
Miller noted that she did like the idea of businesses coming in and rehabbing buildings that were abandoned or needed to be repurposed and bringing in more tax revenue. She said she is generally ok with people keeping their property private and not having significant developments come into the city.
Araminta Knight:
Knight said she is running for city council because she wants to help it grow and be involved in the place she chose to raise her family.
The top issue facing Ludlow:
“I live on Elm Street, and a lot of cars drive by our house,” Knight said. “I now have a two-year-old who can now reach the doorknob, so pedestrian safety is something that’s very close to my heart.”
In addition to pedestrian safety, Knight said she would like to see a community resource center implemented in Ludlow so the community feels supported, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thoughts on bringing in more development to help increase payroll tax and lower property tax:
Knight said she thinks there is room for more businesses as long as they are thoughtful decisions and coincide with the “small-town feel and charm” of the city.
