LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — For Victoria Meyer, any day at the park is a good day, even on a rainy Thursday morning. So, it stands to reason that Meyer, the co-chair of the city’s parks advisory board and co-chair of the “Yes on Parks” ballot measure initiative, is very happy with Tuesday night’s election result.
“We were thrilled,” Meyer said while sitting on a bench at Wellington Park. “We spent four years working on this and we did the math and pretty much knew the people of Lexington wanted this,” she stated.
Meyer and her team were proven right, as more than 60% of Fayette County voters voted “yes” on the measure.
“It required putting in the work and having citizens step up and (do) the most democratic thing in the world; decide what they want for their community for generations to come,” Meyer said.
After working with Fayette County PVA, David O’Neill, Meyer learned the standard homeowner assessment for tax purposes is $235,000. That amount, with a parks tax of 2.25 cents per $100 of assessed value, equates to $52.88 per home, or a little more than $1 weekly. The fee will be added to everyone’s property tax bill.
“It is considerable for some, and believe me, I've been one of those people, but it is worth it. We need places for children to be outside and for us to be outside, Meyer said.
Meyer said the funding will go towards maintaining, improving, and even adding to Lexington’s park system. That’ll include the recent announcement of Kelly’s Landing, which will be a new park along the river, with a boat launch and much more.
Meyer said the research showed her that most Lexington residents are using the parks and will benefit from the improvements this tax money will afford.
“We know 90% of Lexingtonians use the parks, and 57% use them at least once per month, so it's not an occasional thing; it's part of our lives,” she added.
Meyer points to the city pool closures during the summer of 2019 when there wasn’t enough money to cover costs.
“I think people remembered that” (while voting), she stated.
