Bullitt County Property Tax: Rates, Exemptions, and Appeals

Bullitt County property tax bills combine levies from the school district, state, county, library, health department, extension office, your fire protection district, and in some cases a city or water district. For 2025, those base rates add up to more than $1.00 per $100 of assessed value before the fire district is layered on, with the school district alone charging $0.757 per $100.¹ Pay by November 1 and you get a 2% discount; let the bill sit past December 31 and penalties start stacking, with the harshest consequences arriving on April 16 when unpaid bills become liens that can be sold to third parties.

The 2025 Rates That Make Up Your Bill

Your total is the sum of per-$100 rates from every taxing district you fall within. For 2025, the major levies applying to most Bullitt County properties are:

School district: $0.757 per $100
Shepherdsville city (if applicable): $0.1161 per $100
State: $0.106 per $100
County: $0.09 per $100
Library: $0.052 per $100
Health department: $0.024 per $100
County extension: $0.009 per $100

Every property also sits in a fire protection district. Those rates range from $0.10 per $100 for Nichols, Southeast, and Zoneton to $0.20 per $100 for Mt. Washington Fire.¹ A property in the Plum Creek water district owes an additional $0.01 per $100.

A home assessed at $200,000 outside city limits in the Zoneton fire district would owe roughly $2,076 before any exemptions, with the school district accounting for about $1,514 of that. Rates are reset annually, so your bill can shift from one year to the next even when your assessed value does not.

The Bullitt County Property Valuation Administrator sets that assessed value at fair cash value under KRS 132.190, meaning what the property would bring in a voluntary sale.² If the value went up this year, the PVA mails you a notice. Read it when it arrives, because it starts the clock on your right to appeal.

When To Pay and What It Costs If You’re Late

Kentucky uses a tiered schedule under KRS 134.015 that rewards early payment and punishes delay.³ In Bullitt County:

By November 1: 2% discount on the total bill.
November 2 through December 31: face amount, no discount, no penalty.
January 1 through January 31: 5% penalty added to the unpaid balance.
February 1 through April 15: a combined 21% penalty applies, which reflects the statutory 10% plus additional sheriff collection fees that accumulate in the final months.⁴

Partial payments aren’t accepted. Each bill has to be paid in full, and the sheriff’s office doesn’t handle prorating between buyers and sellers at closing.⁴

How To Pay Your Bullitt County Property Taxes

The Bullitt County Sheriff’s Office collects every property tax bill in the county under KRS 134.119.⁵ You have four ways to pay:

By mail: send a check or money order with your payment voucher to Bullitt County Sheriff, P.O. Box 205, Shepherdsville, KY 40165.
In person: Bullitt County Courthouse, 300 South Buckman Street, Shepherdsville, KY 40165.
Online: bullitt.kysheriff.org. Card processor fees apply and are charged by the processor rather than the sheriff.
At the bank: between October 1 and December 31, pay by check at any Bullitt County Stock Yards Bank location during business hours.

One cutoff to watch. After April 1, personal and business checks are no longer accepted. From that date forward, you have to pay by certified check or money order.⁴ To look up a bill, you’ll need your map ID (the alphanumeric parcel identifier), the property address, and the bill number, all available through the PVA’s online property search.⁶

Homestead and Disability Exemptions

Kentucky’s homestead exemption reduces the taxable assessed value of your primary residence by $49,100 for the 2025–2026 tax years.⁷ On a $200,000 Bullitt County home, that reduction can be worth several hundred dollars a year depending on the combination of districts on the bill.

You qualify under one of two paths: you were at least 65 at some point during the tax year, or you’ve been classified as totally disabled under a program administered by a federal agency or a retirement system.⁸ Either way, the property must be the one you own and live in. Only one exemption is allowed per household, even if more than one person on the deed would qualify on their own.⁹

Apply through the Bullitt County PVA. Approved before you pay? The exemption cuts the amount due. Approved after? You can get a refund for the exempt portion.⁸ People under 65 who qualify on disability have to reapply every year, with one exception: service-connected totally disabled veterans and anyone found permanently and totally disabled by Social Security or Kentucky Retirement Systems file once and are done.

Appealing Your Assessment

If you believe the PVA has overvalued your property, the appeal process has two stages and a tight schedule. Miss the first stage and you can’t move to the second.

Start With a Conference at the PVA

You have to request a conference with the PVA during the annual open inspection period, which starts the first Monday in May and runs 13 days (Sundays excluded). For 2026, that window is expected in early-to-mid May. The conference is mandatory. Skip it and you lose the right to appeal that year’s value.¹⁰

Bring whatever evidence you have for a lower value. The PVA gives you a written summary of the meeting, which you’ll need if you take the next step.

Then the Board of Assessment Appeals

If the conference doesn’t resolve things, file a formal appeal with the local Board of Assessment Appeals through the county clerk’s office. The deadline is one working day after the inspection period closes. Attach the PVA’s conference record to your appeal form.

The board accepts sales data from comparable properties, recent appraisals, original construction costs, three years of income and expense statements for commercial properties, insured-value documentation, and any recent asking price if you’ve listed the property for sale.¹⁰ You can represent yourself. If you hire someone, that representative has to be an attorney, CPA, certified appraiser, licensed real estate broker, or another professional recognized by the Department of Revenue.

What Happens If You Don’t Pay by April 15

On April 16, unpaid bills transfer from the sheriff to the county clerk and become certificates of delinquency, functioning as liens against your property.¹¹ Three new charges attach immediately:

Interest at 1% per month on the total due
A county clerk fee of 10% of the amount owed
A county attorney fee of 20% of the amount owed

The county attorney sends a notice by May 15 and, if needed, a second notice by June 15. If the bill still isn’t paid, the county clerk begins offering the certificate for sale to third-party purchasers in mid-July, with most sales wrapping up by the end of August. The sale is advertised in the local newspaper and on the clerk’s website at least 30 days ahead.¹¹

Once a third party buys your certificate, you owe them instead of the county, and they can add substantial fees of their own. An installment plan is possible but not required, and the terms are up to the purchaser. A $2,000 bill left unpaid past April 15 can easily grow past $2,600 before it even hits the sale list, and the number keeps climbing after that.

A Note for Business Owners

Bullitt County property tax isn’t limited to real estate. If you own business equipment, furniture, inventory, aircraft, or watercraft, you also owe tangible personal property tax on those items, with rates that differ slightly from real estate rates in some districts.¹ The return (Form 62A500) is due between January 1 and May 15 each year, with no extensions available. If the total fair cash value of your tangible property at a single location is $1,000 or less, no filing is required.¹²

1
Bullitt County Sheriff. Tax Collection
2
Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statutes 132.190 – Property Subject to Taxation, Situs
3
Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statutes 134.015 – Due Dates, Person Responsible for Payment, Regular and Alternative Collection Schedules, Discounts
4
Bullitt County Sheriff. About Property Taxes
5
Justia. Kentucky Code 134.119 – Sheriff Is Collector of Taxes
6
Bullitt County Property Valuation Administrator. Bullitt County PVA
7
Kentucky Department of Revenue. Homestead Exemption
8
Justia. Kentucky Code 132.810 – Homestead Exemption Application Qualification
9
Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Constitution Section 170 – Property Exempt From Taxation
10
Kentucky Department of Revenue. Appeal Process for Real Property Assessments
11
Kentucky Department of Revenue. Delinquent Property Tax
12
Kentucky Department of Revenue. Business Personal Property