You have been reappraised. Now what?

 

You have been reappraised. Now what?

Everyone is talking property taxes. Here is what you need to know.

First, it is important to know that the two major sources of revenue for Metro are Property Taxes and the Optional Sales Taxes. In the 2024/25 budget, the Property Tax provided 51.4% of our revenue. The Optional Sales taxes provided 22% of our revenue.

Property taxes are determined by

1) Assessed Value from the County Assessor and

2) Property Tax rate as determined by the Mayor and Metro Council.

1. Assessed Value

Per state law, the Assessor's Office must reappraise all properties every 4 years. The appraisal is an estimate of the most probable selling price of a property. Condition of structures, construction type,. age and land features are all considered.

From that assessed value appraisal, there is a percentage of the value that is taxable. Statutory assessment percentages, based on use, are applied. For residential use, the percentage is 25%.

So, for example, a residence appraised at $1,000,000 would have an assessment value of 25%, or $250,000. Property taxes are calculated on that $250,000 value.

2. Property Tax Rate

The actual amount a property owner will be subject to pay is formed by the rate decided upon by the Mayor and City Council.

The current property tax rate is 3.25% per $100 of assessed value.

Using the example above, taxes on $250,000 assessed value, at a rate of 3.25% would be $8,125.00.

The mayor has proposed a new tax rate of 2.814%. On its face, the rate is lower than the current rate of 3.25%.

However, our average reappraisals have resulted in approximately 52% increases in District 23. So, even though the percentage rate may be lower, the resulting tax amount will be significantly higher.

Using our $1,000,000 home example, a 52% appraisal increase means the property is now appraised at $1,520,000. The 25% assessment (taxable portion) is now $380,000 .

Applying the mayor's new tax rate of 2.8145% would result in a tax bill of $10,693.20. Taxes are higher, even though the rate is lower, because of the huge increase in appraised values. This is actually a 31.6% increase from last year's tax rate.

A 13.5% reduction in tax rate has no positive effect against a massive increase in appraised values.

HOW TO APPEAL

If you feel like your appraisal is incorrect, you can file an appeal. How To Appeal-Nashville Property Assessor Appeals are due by May 9. Follow the link for the process to file your appeal.

So, where do we go from here?

The mayor submitted his proposal for a property tax increase when he presented his State of Metro speech last week.

The Metro Council Budget Committee reviews all department expenses and proposed department changes through a series of meetings. The council considers community input at Metro public hearings on the budget. Council Members can recommend changes to the Chair of Budget Finance Committee. After days of review and discussions, the Finance Chair can recommend a substitute budget based on council input. The substitute budget would include recommendations from both department expenses, property tax rates and other revenue sources.

An important note is to recognize that only the Mayor's proposed budget and that of the Finance Chair are amendable. Any other budget offered is not subject to any discussion or amendment. Therefore, it is very difficult to provide an alternative budget that 40 CM's can agree on. If the budget proposed by the Finance Chair is not approved by June 30, it automatically defaults to the Mayor's Budget.

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