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Although they sang “Silent Night,” the 25-or-so people gathered in front of the Blount County Courthouse on Thursday were there to make their voices heard.
They sang to convince the Blount County Commission to vote for the 2007 Property Tax Freeze Act to allow property taxes for qualified senior citizens to be frozen a present levels.

Apparently, it worked. The County Commission voted 12-9 to approve the freeze, despite questions that remain about the program.

County resident Ron McTigue was one of the organizers of the rally.

“It’s a no-brainer,” McTigue said during public comments. “Eighty-one percent of the people voted for it. ... Please God, let them give us a Christmas present. That’s all I ask.”

Commissioners David Ballard Jr., Tonya Burchfield, Ron French, David Graham, Brad Harrison, Mark Hasty, Scott Helton, Joe McCulley, Monica Murrell, Wendy Pitts Reeves, Steve Samples and Mike Walker voted yes. Commissioners Gary Farmer, Steve Hargis, John Keeble, Gerald Kirby, Holden Lail, Mike Lewis, Kenneth Melton, Bob Proffitt and Chairman Robert Ramsey voted no.

Seniors will have to apply each year for the program, which would initially freeze their property tax rate at the current $2.23 per $100 of assessed value in the event of tax increases; however, people applying for the first time in future years will pay the then-current tax rate.

Much of the discussion prior to the vote centered on whether the freeze would actually help seniors with large amounts of property.

“I have not been so much in favor of this until lately,” Reeves said. “It had not occurred to me the impact this would have in encouraging senior citizens not to move off of large acreages of land.

The county would end up saving money “... by not paying for children that move onto that land who will have to go to school,” Reeves said.

There are conditions of the law as it is written that would not make it as advantageous for large landowners, however, Walker said.

“Only five acres of the property would be eligible for the freeze,” he said.

An existing state program, 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.

“(The property tax freeze) is going to be far more difficult to implement and to maintain,” Proffitt said. “Maybe the basic one should be strengthened.”

According to the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury’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.

Lail said that aspects of the new program could possibly hurt seniors, if their eligibility for the program changed.

“The question is can we do something that will have a lasting and positive affect on them?” 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.

Figures from the Comptroller’s Office indicate the program could cost the county about $22,241 per each 1 cent increase of the tax rate.

In any case, Samples said he is not convinced that the commission will have to raise taxes during the next fiscal year, adding that Blount County Schools has enough fund balance (more than $6 million) to pay for the opening of two new schools.

Information provided by the County Technical Advisory Services suggests 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.

In other business, the County Commission voted unanimously to revise local regulation to give the animal control officer the power to seize animals that have attacked people or other animals, if their owners do not keep them chained or confined.