Lexington City Council last week unanimously passed a resolution to update the thresholds for tax relief for the elderly, which were last updated in 2009.
The limits set in 2009 were a combined gross income of $30,000 and a combined financial net worth of $70,000 for households to qualify for some amount of tax relief.
In the decade and a half since then, the number of households that qualified for tax relief under those guidelines decreased from 65 applications in the 2010 fiscal year to 12 in the 2026 fiscal year, due in part to an increase in income for fixed income households over that time period.
At Council’s Dec. 18 meeting, outgoing Commissioner of Revenue Karen Roundy and her successor Kelly Glass presented the data to City Council showing that Lexington’s limits for income were below other nearby counties and cities, including Rockbridge County, which currently sets the income limit at $50,000, and Buena Vista with a income limit of $40,000.
Lexington’s $70,000 limit on net worth was also below the limit set by most of the localities, with Buena Vista’s limit of $65,000 being the only one lower.
Roundy suggested increasing the income level to $45,000 and the net worth to $100,000, which would provide an estimated $40,000 in tax relief for the city’s elderly citizens. The resolution presented to Council at last week’s meeting included those changes.
