CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Erinne Hester, Montgomery County assessor of property, addressed the Rotary Club of Clarksville this week, and she gave the community a heads up that the next property revaluation could bring some property tax sticker shock.
Hester, an elected official whose job is to list, discover and classify all real and tangible property in the county, said Montgomery County is growing at a pace that has not been seen before. That growth can be measured by the number of parcels, the number of recorded documents, new construction permits, or by what the market is doing.
Every five years, the county is required to do a revaluation, where property values are updated based on a variety of factors, including home sales. She said the purpose of revaluation is to bring all of the properties in the county back to market value at the same time.
While the values will be adjusted to market, the State of Tennessee requires a new, revenue neutral tax rate to be calculated, meaning the tax rate will be reduced to offset the market increase.
The last re-evaluation was done in 2019. “The median sales price in this county in 2019 was $170,000; today it is $298,900,” Hester said. “Our median sales price growth since 2019 is just under 76 percent.”
The next revaluation is scheduled for 2024, and home values across the county are expected to rise.
Hester, who is also president of the Tennessee Association of Assessing Officers, said Montgomery County has more than 93,000 real property parcels, which includes approximately 9,700 business accounts. It is further broken down into 3,100 farm and agriculture parcels, 6,200 commercial and industrial parcels, and 72,000 residential parcels.
“What does that look like for Montgomery County? That was over $150 million for tax year 2021 and for the City of Clarksville that’s $42 million.”