ALEXANDRIA — A property tax allowing counties to fund a regional parks/recreation district is one possibility being considered as Northern Kentucky counties look to improve recreation opportunities.

        Established by the 1998 General Assembly, the recreation tax cannot be imposed by a county but rather must be approved by voters.

        John Vissman, vice president of Forward Quest, emphasized that local governments “aren't anxious to even request additional tax money during an election year, so there's little chance of seeing the recreation tax discussed seriously before 2003.”

        Forward Quest is a organization formed by Northern Kentucky business, community, government and social service leaders to chart growth in the region.

        The recreation tax was mentioned recently at a joint meeting of Campbell Fiscal Court and Campbell County mayors, during a discussion of the development of a county recreation master plan.

        Pat Hoagland, an architect and director of recreation for Brandstetter Carroll, an engineering and planning company based in Lexington that developed recreation master

        plans for Boone and Kenton counties, told Campbell County officials that the tax was available if the county wanted to establish a recreation district or authority.

        “We are looking at a number of recreation projects covering all three (Campbell, Kenton and Boone) counties,” Mr. Vissman said.

        “We conducted a survey to gauge interest in improved recreational opportunities and whether residents would be willing to pay more for better recreation,” Mr. Vissman said. “It was done as part of a regional planning process, creating a valid statistical sampling of the three counties. Fully two-thirds of those who responded said they would be willing to pay more for improved recreation.”

        Campbell County Judge-executive Steve Pendery said the idea of a recreation tax had not been discussed by county or city officials.

        “As we work to complete the (recreation) master plan, we will meet with the mayors to reach a consensus on how to proceed,” he said. “When the priorities for recreation have been established, we will have to determine how to fund them. That's at least two years away.”

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