Maysville officials are seeking the help of citizens in compiling a list of vacant and abandoned properties.
In December, city commissioners enacted an abandoned urban property ordinance that places a $5 per $100 of accessed value tax on abandoned property.
The ordinance also defines what an abandoned property is, lays out the steps to having an abandoned property designation removed, and allows for an appeals process.
The tax penalizes owners whose property is placed on a list of properties determined to have been vacant for at least a year, on the delinquent property tax list for three years, dangerous, void of maintenance, contaminated by methamphetamine, or faces other issues as determined by ordinance.
“It’s a way to go after people who don’t take care of their property,” Maysville City Manager Matt Wallingford said at the time of passage. In other words, he said, it may encourage people to either fix or maintain their own property or sell it so someone else can.
As the city begins to gather information on properties that it may deem eligible for the list it is enlisting residents to help.
“If you know of any property(ies) in the city limits that contains a structure, whether a residence, apartment building, commercial or industrial building, that has been vacant/abandoned for at least a year, please email me the address at [email protected] or send a private message to the city’s Facebook page,” Wallingford said in a post on the city’s social media page.
Currently, the city has named about 60 properties to the list, most of them in the east end, Wallingford said. Codes Enforcement Office Nicole Brooks is working to gather information from the west end and from the top of the hill, he said.
Once complete the city will forward that list to the Property Valuation Administrator by this spring so it can be accessed for tax bills which will be issued in fall 2021.
Wallingford said he has no idea how much money the new tax initiative may generate for the city but said that isn’t really the point behind the tax. Instead, he hopes more people will maintain properties to reduce urban blight and city expense involved in demolishing abandoned properties.
