By Ryan Lewis
Correspondent
JASPER, Tenn. -- City administrators say they never want to raise tax rates, but in this economy, they certainly don't want to lower them, either.
This year, Marion County property values came up for reappraisal by state officials, and they plan on setting the certified rate for Jasper at about 22 cents per $100 of assessed value.
The property tax rate now is 24 cents per $100, and the Jasper Board of Mayor and Aldermen can't see how they can manage to drop it again.
"We certainly can't afford to lower our taxes," Jasper Mayor Billy Simpson said. "Look at the services we provide. There's just no way humanly possible that I can see us lowering our taxes."
Alderman Steve Looney agreed, saying there's not enough money in the budget with the current tax rate to do the projects around town that need to be completed.
"We've got a lot of things here that we need to get done, like street repairs, and we just don't have the money to do them right now," he said.
City attorney Zach Kelly said Jasper already has a minimum property tax when compared to other municipalities in the county.
In fact, South Pittsburg's tax rate before the reappraisals was 56 cents per $100, while Whitwell's was 60 cents. Kimball claims the lowest property tax rate at 10 cents per $100, officials said.
Mr. Kelly said that, even though the new rate has not been finalized yet, it seems clear that it will be less than the current one.
Alderman Paul Evans has watched the state's certified tax rate decline for years.
"The last time we had the reassessment was when I first came on the board," he said. "At one time our tax rate was 57 cents per $100. It's been rolled back every year since then, and now we're down to 24 cents. We're going to have to look at doing something, but we definitely can't roll it back."
To change the rate, however, the board must hold a public hearing 30 days in advance, said Mr. Kelly.
The board authorized Mr. Simpson to do so by a unanimous vote.
Ryan Lewis is based in Marion County. Contact him at ryanlewis34@gmail.com.