The Warren County School Board approved two items that will impact how property taxes going to the district are processed at its recent meeting.

The board approved a resolution for a local economic revitalization tax assistance program, or LERTA.

Under the district’s resolution, abatement would apply for a five-year period at a rate of 100 percent. The rate matches existing county and municipal ordinances.

The resolution applies to both residential and commercial development.

Under a LERTA program, property owners in an area designated as deteriorated by a municipality can develop, modify or expand their properties without immediately facing higher taxes on the new, reassessed value. For instance, a vacant lot could have a structure built on it and, if it qualified under a LERTA program, would continue to pay either the pre-construction assessed taxes or a reduced rate on the new assessed value. An existing structure could be improved, but the reduction in taxes would only apply to any increase in assessed value as a result of the improvement and not to the pre-improvement taxes..

The county adopted a LERTA ordinance in 2019 in which it defined the entire county as deteriorated based on a shrinking population, increasing numbers of low-to-moderate income residents and other factors.

Property tax revenue is split between the school district, county and municipality in which a property is situated. Under the county ordinance, the county’s abatement of taxes in an area is dependent on the municipality passing its own LERTA program. Approximately a dozen county municipalities have passed their own ordinances signing onto the program so far.

The board also approved an inter-governmental agreement to forgo 50 percent of its share of property taxes on properties acquired through the county land bank for a period of five years in favor of directing those funds to continuing to fund the land bank.

The agreement matches the rate and time period at which the county and municipalities which participate in the land bank forego taxes.