Mar 10

Mar 10 Residents Pack Commissioners Meeting Over Davidson County Property Revaluation Shock

A large crowd of people attended the Monday night meeting of the Davidson County Commissioners to voice their concern about the recent property revaluation notices that they received.

Several people said that their recent property values have skyrocketed, some as much as 90% or even doubling, since the last county reval in 2021. The average property value increase is 65%, according to the tax assessor’s department.

Revaluation is the process where property tax values are determined at the current market value. It is also sometimes called a mass appraisal. According to the Davidson County Tax Assessor’s office, the overall purpose of a reappraisal is to achieve uniformity and fairness of property tax for all property owners.

But this recent reassessment of property values has come as a shock to many residents, who say if the tax rate remains at its current rate, they will have difficulty paying their taxes.

Jessica Hughes said her property went from being valued at $170,000 to over $400,000. She said she, like many residents, want to know how their property values went so high so quickly.

“For many of us these numbers just don’t make sense,” said Hughes. “When government struggles to fund child protection (services) but finds tens of millions of dollars for a recreation facility, that does not look like responsible fiscal management. That is not responsible governance. It is a failure of priorities.”

Many speakers requested a 60 or 90 extension on the deadline to file an appeal on their property evaluation. Others questioned the formula used to assess the new property values, and where they could find information on how those numbers were calculated.

But most voiced their disapproval of the county leadership, and how taxpayers were already being overburdened by the recent economy and then received a huge jump in their tax bills.

“You people are crazy,” said Joe Caswell. “You have turned your back on us. There are people that don’t even have food to put on their table...We’ve got people who ain’t got no place to live because they can’t afford any place to live. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. You say you’ve heard us, but who is going to do something about it.”

Davidson County Manager Casey Smith said there have been discussions about adjusting the current tax rate to adjust for the increase in property values and lessen tax bills, but it is a decision the county commissioners will make during the upcoming budget process.

He also said the calculations on how property values are determined are on the county website under the tax assessor department, and that although there is a 30 deadline to file an appeal, it will take several months to resolve all claims.

“None of us are happy about this,” said Commissioner Steve Shell. “We are all tax paying citizens, and we’re still working on it.”

Earlier this month, Diane Young, Division Manager with Davidson County Government’s Tax Department, said they expected a large number of calls about the new property evaluation.

“Just wanted to give everyone a brief update of the revaluation notices and the chaos that is fixing to unfold....As we are finalizing things to prepare for this mass chaos, processes may change but know that we are trying to have everyone’s best interest in mind which includes the taxpayer. Please be patient as we continue to discuss the best way to employ the quickest and safest way to manage the appeals.”