PROPERTY TAX HIKE AND YOU• $2.0954: Original property tax rate• $523.85: Annual tax bill on $100,000 home, old rate• $2.5054: New property tax rate• $626.35: New annual tax bill on $100,000 home• $102.50: Annual increase on a $100,000 homeSource: Grundy County government, Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury Division of Property Assessments
Grundy County Mayor Lonnie CleekREGION RATES• Bledsoe: $2.2162• Bradley: $1.7920• Coffee : $2.9728• Cumberland: $1.4975• Franklin: $2.6736• Grundy: $2.5054• Hamilton: $2.7652• Marion: $2.1686• McMinn; $1.5553• Meigs: $1.8726• Polk: $2.1800• Rhea: $1.7496• Sequatchie: $2.1386• Van Buren: $1.6704• Warren: $1.9955Source: Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury Division of Property Assessments county property tax rate list for 2012
Grundy County commissioners split a vote passing a property tax resolution that hikes the rate by 41 cents — a 19.6 percent increase — to pay for increases in the cost of living, minimum wage, state-mandated salaries and the coming costs of operating and maintaining a planned multimillion-dollar jail.
County Mayor Lonnie Cleek, who doesn’t vote on commission business but supports the increase, said all nine commissioners worked down to the wire trying to trim a budget that hasn’t included a tax increase in about 18 years. Tennessee law requires counties to submit a budget to the state by Oct. 1.
“It’s been almost 20 years since we’ve had a property tax increase,” Cleek said. “Look at the prices 20 years ago and the price today of what it costs to provide services. It was inevitable.”