Citing continued growth, the pandemic, and the loss of the Hall Tax and other revenue streams, the Williamson County Commissioners recently approved a 13-cent tax increase to balance their 2021-2022 budget of $650 million.
“With increases in impact fees and sales tax, many have asked why we are increasing property taxes,” said County Mayor Rogers Anderson. “We need the capital to keep up with the needs of the county over the next three to four years…People come here for the quality of life, and we need to give it to them.”
Williamson County has seen explosive growth. According to workpopulationreview.com, the county has been growing between 2.5% and 3.5% per year for the last ten years, for a total growth rate of 35.46%. And growth is not expected to stop any time soon.
The pandemic has also had a significant impact on the county. According to the county budget report, the hotel/motel tax is down 48%, the gas tax is down 4%, park’s fees are down 24%, and the business tax is down 8%. With collection of the Hall Income Tax ending this year, Williamson County will lose roughly $2.5 million.
At the same time, the county needs to expand services due to the increased growth. The tax increase will help fund school construction projects; raises for county employees; staffing increases in certain areas; building a new Juvenile Justice Facility and a new adult Jail Facility with Sheriff Administrative Services; expanding the courts; road improvements, and increased demand for other county services. Also, the budget report advises that it is necessary to “maintain adequate fund balances to ensure funds are available to operate during the first five to six months of each fiscal year until current year property tax collections begin.”
The largest part of the 2021-2022 budget will go to the school system. The 2021 school year started with an enrollment of 39,322, a drop from both the previous year and projected enrollment due to COVID-19, but it is expected to increase again with the 2021-2022 school year.
County Mayor Anderson told WSMV, people are moving here for the public education. “We acknowledge that. So, we want to be there for them. We want to continue to grow the way we need to grow.”
While most Commissioners were for the tax increase, seeing it as providing the county with the resources to ensure a continued high quality of life, others did not agree. This included Commissioner Brian Beathard, who felt it was bad timing for a tax increase after so many having suffered through the pandemic.
Williamson County already collects the highest property tax in Tennessee according to tax-rates.org. The median property tax in Tennessee is $933 per year, while Williamson County averages $1,879 annually. Although, their tax rate, 0.56% of median home value does fall below the state average of 0.68%. Overall, however, Tennessee has the 10th lowest property tax rate in the country.
Tax rates are raised and lowered as property values fluctuate. Every five years the county does a reappraisal, and this year was such a year. Mayor Anderson explained that the county has an assessed value of $65 billion, up from roughly $30 billion ten years ago. With the reappraisal year comes an adjustment of the tax rate to create a revenue-neutral rate. This year that revenue-neutral certified tax rate would have been $1.75 per $100 of assessed value, but then the 13-cent increase was added. Previous to this year’s adjustment, the property tax rate was $2.22 per $100 of assessed value. Although the rate has gone down, property owners could end up paying more due to the increase in assessed values.
Local tax revenues make up just over 74% of the county’s budget, with the rest coming from the state, at just over 24%, and the rest coming from the federal government.
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