Lee Erwin Reporting
lerwin@clarksvillenow.com
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – There was good news from Montgomery County officials Thursday when they announced the property tax rate in Montgomery County could be dropping from its current $3.14 to $2.97 per $100 of assessed value.
The Montgomery County Commission will have the final word on whether the tax rate will go down to $2.97. Commissioners have been notified of the proposed lower tax rate and a meeting is set for July 29th to go over both the tax rate and county budget which will go before the commission in August.
Montgomery County Mayor Carolyn Bowers and the county’s Accounts and Budgets Director, Jeff Taylor, talked about the property reappraisal that has been going on and is carried out every five years by the office of the county Assessor of Property.
“Some people’s property has of course gotten an increase in appraisal value and some people have gotten a decrease in their appraisal value. It simply depends. A lot of it is location,” said Bowers. Areas in the county that have seen an increase in value are near Interstate 24.
Taylor had a chart showing examples of how the old and new residential tax rates would affect taxpayers. Taxes on a residence with an original appraised value of $100,000 and with an assessed value of $25,000 would pay $785 under the old rate of $3.14 but only $743 with the proposed new $2.97 tax rate.
Mary Bowers talked about the new 2014-2015 budget and said that public safety was a top priority and there is a proposal to hire four new School Resource Officers for the elementary schools which would be one officer for every two schools. Looking forward Bowers said eventually they would like to have an officer at every elementary school.
Bower talked about the proposed new county budget. “We have proposed a budget that we think can meet the needs of county officials and department heads and serve the citizens of Montgomery County,” said Bowers. Bowers added that a lot of what county government does is mandated by the state.