Property Tax Assessment Appeals In Line with Expectations

Davidson County homeowners are appealing their tax reappraisals at about the same rate as the last time homes were revalued four years ago.

About 8,500 homeowners have filed an appeal saying the city incorrectly valued their home.

Property Assessor George Rooker says about 10,000 homeowners filed appeals in 2005. He says by the time the Friday deadline rolls around, he expects the number to be similar.

“Again, it’s about an average number but it’s lower than we expected certainly under the circumstance given the economy and the downturn in the real estate market. I think public education has been part of it.”

Rooker says despite the economy, homes in Metro have actually increased in value on average about 15-percent. Mayor Karl Dean has proposed not to raise property taxes, so homeowners will pay about $4.10 per one hundred dollars of assessed value in the next fiscal year.

Rooker was one of the first department heads to answer questions from Metro Council members, as the body kicked off its budget hearings yesterday. Rooker’s hearing passed smoothly but the Metro Human Relations Commission did not have the same ease.

Councilman Michael Craddock says the Commission and many of Metro’s other boards deserve scrutiny.

“Some of these boards and commissions tend to do what they want when they want to do it. And so maybe, we need to question them a little closer than we do other people or other Metro departments.”

Several members, including Craddock, had issues over how the commission budgets for advertising and whether the role the Commission plays in mediating discrimination claims could be served by a state agency. Council members have until the end of June to tinker with the county’s $1.5-billion dollar budget.