The Hamilton County Commission has waived $772,764 in reappraisal costs owed by the county’s 10 cities.
That amount is half the county assessor’s expense in fiscal 2017 for conducting work associated with the 2017 reappraisal, which occurs every four years in Hamilton County. A state law, passed in 1989, requires a county’s cities to pay half the property reappraisal costs. The law also allows county commissions to waive the fee if they have agreements with their cities.
Until now, Hamilton County has never enforced the law, neither charging its cities nor formally waiving the fee.
Commissioners voted 9-0 in favor of the waiver, presented by Commissioner Tim Boyd as a means of giving the body some “breathing space” to determine a long-term solution before the 2021 reappraisal.
“I think sooner than later, I think we should put it to bed so we don’t have to revisit this time and time again,” Commissioner Joe Graham said.
Graham indicated a future solution might be to waive Chattanooga’s reappraisal cost – which amounted to $557,000 this 2017 – if the city waives stormwater fees it charges the county school system, which he described as “a wash.”
Commissioner Warren Mackey, who voted for the waiver with the rest of his colleagues, asked if the commission would waive other fees for services provided to municipalities by the county.
Davis Lundy, who represents a group of the county’s smaller cities, voiced a hopeful tone after the commission meeting.
“The County Commission is ultimately going to do the right thing by waiving these fees for the small cities in Hamilton County,” Lundy said. “That will be good government. We just have to wait for them to go through the process.”
Last week, municipal leaders from Hamilton County’s small cities packed the commission meeting to fight against the reappraisal billing, due June 30 if no waiver materialized.
They described their share of reappraisal costs as an unbudgeted expense that could cause them to raise taxes.
“It certainly was not in our budget. The only recourse we would have – particularly in Lookout, which is a small town that does not have substantial sales tax revenue – our only recourse would be to raise property taxes,” Lookout Mountain Mayor Carol Mutter said.
Mayor Andy Berke has said Chattanooga would be willing to formalize the practice of not charging the cities for reappraisals.
Hamilton County Property Assessor Marty Haynes maintained the stance he has taken since he broke the news to the 10 cities in December: he is just following the law. He said he learned the county has been out of compliance for nearly three decades when he took office in September.
Since December, the municipal leaders have campaigned against the measure, sending letters to the County Commission and packing the commission’s meeting last week.
“This issue is resolved for this year,” Haynes said. “There will be no fee sent from Hamilton County government to the municipalities. I’m fine with that, I was doing my job following state law.”
Contact staff writer Paul Leach at 423-757-6481 or pleach@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @pleach_tfp.