According to zillow.com, the median home value in Hamilton County is $173,900 – 6.9% higher than last year and expected to rise another 4.5% within the next year. The Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors puts the average home value in Hamilton County at about $187,000.
That means that if Hamilton County commissioners pass the proposed 34-cent property tax increase aimed at improving public schools here, the residents in those median-value homes will pay somewhere between $10.63 and $14.17 a month more in property taxes – or $127.50 to $170 more a year. For the purpose of simplicity, let’s split it down the middle and say most of us will pay just under $150 more in property tax.
What is the value of $150 a year to the average property owner in our county where more than 60 percent of our third-graders cannot read at grade level and about that same number of high school graduates can’t find good local jobs because the county’s employers say they lack the “jobs-ready” skills?
Will it buy a new roof? Absolutely not. Will it buy a new lawnmower? Hardly. A small, cheap rug? Maybe. Six or eight bags of cheap dog food? Sure.
But here’s what it will buy for our classrooms in 72 schools that have not received an operational budget increase (above natural growth in property tax revenue) in 14 years: