Warren County residents have already paid a record amount in state and local taxes for 2017, and the county sheriff’s office is still making final collections.

Jessica Coles, bookkeeper and tax deputy for the sheriff’s office, said her office has brought in $68,522,926.24 so far, for a collection rate of 96.28 percent.

“The people of Warren County are good about paying their taxes,” Coles said. “For the larger counties in the state, we’re always near the top in collection rate.”

Revenue to the Warren County Treasurer’s Office, currently at $12,083,389.14, is up by more than $600,000 from the previous year despite Warren County Fiscal Court leaving property tax rates unchanged.

The big winner so far is Warren County Public Schools, which shows a disbursement of $32,565,578.78 on records provided by Coles. She said that represents an increase of more than $2.3 million over the previous year. The county school district increased its assessment from 44 cents per $100 of assessed value to 44.9 cents.

About $14.5 million in state taxes have been collected by the sheriff’s office, and another $3.7 million has been collected for the Warren County Public Library.

Tax revenue totaling more than $1.1 million is going to nine volunteer fire districts in the county. Alvaton, with more than $242,000 allocated so far, and Richardsville, with nearly $205,000 allocated, are the largest volunteer fire department allocations.

Warren County’s tax revenue increase is fueled by population growth and by commercial and residential growth that has boosted property values.

Coles said 50,666 tax bills were sent out this year, an increase of more than 300 from the previous year. County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon said at the time tax rates were set last fall that new commercial and residential developments have helped fiscal court keep tax rates down.

“We’ve had a lot of expansion of our tax base, with new businesses and growth in our population,” Buchanon said. “Without the growth we’ve experienced, we’d be in bad shape.”

Fiscal court voted 6-0 in September to keep the tax rates the same as they have been for the past decade: 14.5 cents per $100 of assessed value on real property, 18.85 cents per $100 of assessed value on personal property and 16.2 cents per $100 of assessed value on motor vehicles and watercraft.

Coles said a good number of Warren County residents saved money this year by paying their taxes early. Residents taking advantage of the 2 percent discount for early payment resulted in a total savings of nearly $1.2 million, she said.

A number of county residents also took advantage of the Homestead Exemption that reduces the tax rate for homeowners over age 65.

Coles said the sheriff’s office had a good number of residents use a new online payment option for their taxes this year. Although there is a fee for the service, Coles expects it to grow.

“We had more than 300 do it (online payment) this year,” she said. “We really didn’t advertise it.”

The deadline to pay county taxes without a penalty was Dec. 31.

Coles said residents paying their taxes after that date are being assessed a 5 percent penalty.

– Follow business reporter Don Sergent on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.