Committee says delay tax freeze vote till 2008

By Joel Davis
of The Daily Times Staff

The Blount County Budget Committee wants any decision on whether to approve a new state program to freeze property taxes for qualified senior citizens to wait until 2008.

The Budget Committee unanimously voted to recommend deferral of a decision on implementing the program authorized by 2007 Property Tax Freeze Act when the full County Commission meets on Dec. 20.

“We need to look more to the state program that is already in effect that cuts off at $24,000,” Commissioner John Keeble said. “I’m not in a position to support this. I would move to defer action on this until 2008. We don’t have enough information to make a responsible decision.”

The existing state program that Keeble referenced, which about 3,000 people in Blount County are currently eligible to use, provides property tax rebates to certain seniors with qualifying incomes or disabled veterans or their surviving spouses.
County Commissioner Steve Samples said he wants to know how the population in Blount County has changed since 2002, which is the last figures available, before making any decision.

“I would like to see those numbers plugged in,” he said.

In November, a majority of Tennessee voters approved a constitutional amendment that would allow local governments to exempt homeowners 65 years old or older from year-to-year increases in property taxes.

According to the state Comptroller’s Office, the Property Tax Freeze Act would allow the property taxes of qualifying homeowners to be frozen at the amount of taxes owed in the year they first qualify for the program. The income limit for participation in the tax freeze program in Blount County is $31,220. This limit can change from year-to-year, meaning that a person might not stay eligible. If they lost eligibility, their tax bill would jump to current levels from the frozen amount.

Figures from the Comptroller of the Treasury’s Office indicate the program could cost the county about $22,241 per each 1 cent increase of the tax rate. The program will not keep Blount County senior citizens from paying the 5-cent county increase that went into effect July 1. The property tax rate is now $2.23 per $100 of assessed value.

Information provided by the County Technical Advisory Services seems to suggest that four out of 10 people age 65 or older in Blount county would end up paying more during future tax rate increases if the program is authorized.

“You are going to give relief to some but it’s going to cost more for others,” Commissioner Kenneth Melton said.

During comments at the end of the meeting, County Mayor Jerry Cunningham told committee members that a formal policy addressing tuition reimbursements for county employees would be included in the upcoming policy manual for county employees that will distributed in January 2008.

In the interim, Cunningham said that he implemented a policy prohibiting any reimbursement for tuition paid to unaccredited schools in January after it was discovered that the Blount County Circuit Court Clerk received $3,910 from the county for bachelor’s and master’s degrees from an online diploma mill.

Following an article in The Daily Times, regarding the degrees that Circuit Court Clerk Tom Hatcher had received from the unaccredited Columbus University, Hatcher repaid the county and successfully sought a refund from that institution.

In other business, the Budget Commission recommended approval of a $147,000 budget increase for the Blount County Schools to pay for increased costs in the system’s English-as-a-second language program.

The number of students enrolled in the program jumped to 112 compared to about 80 last year. Blount County Schools is required by federal law to provide supplementary instruction for students who are not proficient in English.

The ESL program is housed at Eagleton Middle School, although it is taught through a contract with Maryville College. The facility on the college campus where the program was formerly housed has been torn down due to construction. Blount County and Maryville, which also contracts for the services, split the utility and maintenance costs.