On the hand of your choosing, I want you to take the tips of your pinky, ring, middle and index fingers, and together touch them to the tip of your thumb. Now look at your hand. Do you know what that represents? It represents exactly how much the Hamilton County assessor of property's office has to do with issuing a senior tax freeze.
Zero. Zilch. Goose egg.
But if you weren't previously aware of that reality, the rhetoric around this year's race for the office might convince you otherwise. While no Tennessee county assessor has the authority to issue limits on the property tax rate of senior residents, Democratic candidate Mark Siedlecki has made a senior tax freeze the central plank of his campaign.
Columnist David MartinWe've all heard politicians make promises they have no intention of keeping. Just turn on CNN or Fox News right now, and you'll see evidence a-plenty of this behavior. This tax freeze maneuver, though, it's a new one to me: leading voters (senior citizens, especially) to think you'll take substantive action on a particular issue that doesn't fall within the jurisdiction of the office you're pursuing. Talk about a head-scratcher.
In case you're wondering, assessors primarily appraise, classify and (duh) assess taxable property. That's about it. Assessors do not set tax rates, nor do they have the power to freeze them. Siedlecki may as well be promising senior citizens that if he's elected, they won't have to pay for parking on downtown Chattanooga streets or that they'll get free curbside garbage pickup.
It's not that tax freezes don't exist in Tennessee. In November 2006, voters approved an amendment to the state constitution, which gave local legislative bodies - read: county commissions and city councils - the ability to halt property tax increases for seniors over the age of 65. Since then, about 25 counties and some 30 municipalities have hit the property tax pause button. Hamilton County is not one of them.
This seems to be part of the angle Siedlecki is working. Though Hamilton County tax rates have been flat since the amendment became law in mid-2007, the fact that the County Commission hasn't passed an official freeze has given Siedlecki a sideways chance to paint his opponent - County Commissioner Marty Haynes - as a threat to senior citizen pocketbooks. Let's be charitable and call this "disingenuous."
Again, there is absolutely nothing Siedlecki could ever do as assessor to institute a senior tax freeze. Nothing legal, anyway.
The scope of the assessor's office is pretty tight, and it's not a very sexy post. So yeah, spicing up an assessor's campaign isn't the easiest thing to accomplish. That said, it's been exhausting for many to watch this race be framed by an issue unrelated to the post.
And it's not just local Republicans who are fed up with Siedlecki's misleading campaign. Khristy Wilkinson, a Democratic candidate for Tennessee state Senate, recently wrote, "I find it disappointing that a Democratic candidate would attempt to gain favor with Hamilton County seniors by appearing to make promises he knows he cannot keep, and more disappointing that other Democrats seem to be complicit in his strategy."
Then she echoed a point made by many area conservatives. Since the only thing Siedlecki could ever actually do about a tax freeze is be an advocate for one, perhaps the best place for him to start would be by lobbying his own campaign manager, Chattanooga City Councilman Chris Anderson. In Wilkinson's words, "Anderson would be well within his jurisdiction to write and advocate for a resolution or ordinance to adopt the Senior Tax Freeze for Chattanooga, should he be so motivated."
Great idea, but that wouldn't make for good campaign fodder, would it?
Contact David Allen Martin at davidallenmartin423@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @DMart423.