This fiscal year, Warren County’s personal property tax rate, which mainly affects businesses, will decrease 4.7 percent.

Warren County Fiscal Court approved Friday a measure that set fiscal year 2016’s tax rates, which included a decrease in the personal property tax rate from 19.78 cents for every $100 of assessed value to 18.85 cents per $100. This means that for a piece of property with an assessed value of $100,000, the owner would have to pay $188.50.

County Treasurer Greg Burrell said state law does not allow the growth of a county’s personal property tax rate to exceed the growth of its real estate rate, which is unchanged.

“Because we’re experiencing growth, it has limited what we can charge on the personal property rate to that same growth,” he said. 

This decrease in the personal property tax rate is the result of growth in the county and a resultant increase in property values, Burrell said. 

“I would just say that it’s a good thing that Warren County is experiencing the growth that they are, that we’re able to lower the personal property” rate, he said.

The other tax rates set with this measure are unchanged from the last fiscal year, with the real estate tax at 14.5 cents for every $100 of assessed value, the tax on motor vehicles and watercraft at 16.2 cents per $100 and the franchise bank deposit tax at .00025 cents per $100.

The only rate increase county residents will see is the real estate and personal property tax set by Warren County Public Schools, which rose half a cent to 44 cents for every $100 of assessed value at the district’s board of education meeting Tuesday. Fiscal court approved that increase in a separate measure Friday.

In another matter, fiscal court approved advertising for bids for the replacement of the Capitol Arts Center’s roof. Warren County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon said leaking remains a fairly regular problem, even though the county has had the roof patched numerous times.

“It just has recurring leaks in it that they’re causing problems,” he said. “You can see it on the surface of the ceiling in a couple of places.” 

The damage has gotten to the point that the county can’t continue to simply patch the roof anymore, Buchanon said.

“We’ve put a Band-Aid on it a number of times,” Buchanon announced to the court after the measure was approved. “It’s too valuable and historic as a building to allow water to damage that.”

For years, the roof has sprung a leak about once a year, although recently the problem has grown more severe, Buchanon said. 

Buchanon is unsure when the deadline for bids would be or how much replacing the roof would cost, he said. 

— Follow reporter Jackson French on Twitter @Jackson_French or visit bgdailynews.com.