County trustees across Tennessee are trying to shore up a state tax relief program to avoid cuts that might leave low-income senior citizens and disabled veterans strapped at tax time.
The state’s Property Tax Relief Program provides property tax rebates for senior citizens who make $28,000 a year or less; the disabled; veterans who are disabled from service and the surviving spouses of fallen soldiers. Residents apply at the local trustee’s office, and the state credits a portion of their tax bills.
Gov. Bill Haslam has discussed plans to slash funding for the program next year from $33 million to $29 million, leaving the more than 150,000 poor and disabled enrollees to shoulder more of their property tax bills.
Hamilton County Trustee Bill Hullander said he and trustees from Davidson, Shelby, Rutherford and Anderson counties are working on a plan to get the program fully funded, or to reduce tax credits for veterans.
“It’s a good program for the elderly and veterans,” Hullander said. “However, [in Hamilton County] the veterans make up 9 percent of the people who participate in this program but they are getting 46 percent of the money.”