Reappraisal Time
| Every four years, Loudon County property owners are
faced with what some of us have come to fear, property reappraisals.
This is the process whereby the state, working with the county property
assessor, takes all kinds of information pertaining to our county,
sticks it in a computer and comes up with new values for our property.
On the one hand, higher property values can be a good thing when you are
hoping your investment will appreciate. On the other hand, higher
property values can mean higher taxes. It's a two edged sword. This year
is a reappraisal year.
Of the 36,000 properties in the county, after reappraisal, some properties will increase in value, some will decrease and some will stay the same. Your assessment may have gone up because you made some improvements over the last four years or because the area you live in, property values have just gotten higher based on sales of homes and properties. But just because your assessment went up, doesn't necessarily mean your taxes will go up. But they might. State law does not allow local governments to collect additional taxes on a reappraisal. That means when property values go up, property tax rates must go down unless local elected officials vote to raise property taxes. For most of us whether our taxes actually go up and how much they go up will be determined by the county commission and city councils. The new lower tax rate is called "The New Certified Tax Rate." Local officials can, by a vote, adopt "The New Certified Tax Rate." In contrast they can also adopt a tax rate higher than "The New Certified Tax Rate." If they do that your property taxes will absolutely go up. There are always some in local government who want to try to use the reappraisal year to secretly raise your property taxes. Loudon County has not had a property tax increase since 2010 and in fact, the property tax rate was reduces by four cents back in 2014. The county property tax rate is currently, $1.80 per $100 of assessed value, fourth lowest in the state. With the booming economy now and the last several years, thank you President Trump, it's expected property values could increase substantially. Likewise, "The New Certified Tax Rate" is also expected to decrease substantially. Local officials haven't received the actual numbers from property assessor, Mike Campbell, yet but that information should be available soon. I'll keep you updated as the process continues. Area Tax Rates Loudon County.......$1.80 |
BACK
3/8/21