Farmers shouldering tax burden after reappraisal

If the house had been appraised last year for $100,000, the owner would have paid $645 in taxes, the Dyer County trustee said.

Assuming a 10 percent property value increase after the countywide reappraisal and a 10-cent increase in the property tax rate, how much would taxes be this year? A total of $646.25 - or $1.25 more, Patton said.

The example doesn't necessarily apply to everyone. Reappraisal values will determine whether a homeowner will pay more property taxes. And, 10 percent seems to be the break-even point. Homeowners are likely to pay less tax if their property values grew less than 10 percent. Those whose property values rose more than 10 percent will likely pay more taxes.

On average, Dyer County property assessments rose 19 percent, said Brian Kinsey, area appraisal manager for the Tennessee Comptroller's division of property assessments.

County Commissioner Milton Magee said he was told that residential, industrial and commercial properties increased an average of 14 percent while agricultural lands rose an average of 24 percent.

Kinsey declined to comment on that breakdown. Attempting to calculate percentages in individual property classes could be misleading. Changes in the value of a single large property can significantly affect a property class, he said Friday afternoon from his office in Jackson.

In Dyersburg, though, increases in the individual classes became an issue during a public hearing Friday on the county's proposed 2008-09 budget.

"I really do believe that agricultural land got a bad shake this time," said County Commissioner Alan Burchfiel, who had met previously with Kinsey.

Burchfiel said each reappraisal shifts the tax burden from one group of property owners to another. This time, it shifted the burden onto farmers, he said.

While Burchfiel is one of the farmers who'll be paying higher taxes, he said he plans to vote for the proposed budget and property tax rate. "I'm going to vote myself a tax increase to fund the services," he said.

Last year's property tax rate of $2.58 for every $100 of assessed property value generated more than $13 million for the county coffers. With the reappraisal and rising property values, a $2.25 tax rate will generate the same sum.

The County Commission is considering a tax rate of $2.35, which is expected to bring an additional $594,000.

County Mayor Richard Hill said county officials had submitted lean budgets and then whittled another $180,000 to offset employee raises this year. Employees will receive 3 percent raises, which will cost the county about $178,000 this year and will be a recurring cost in future years.

David Agee, a county commissioner and vice chairman of the Commission's Budget Committee, called for public comments on each section of the $44.754 million budget. Budget Committee Chairman Debbie Bradshaw Hart sat with fellow commissioners and listened.

"When we got ready to work on the budget this year, it was tougher than I thought it would be," Agee said. He noted that the budget talks began with a sobering reality: many revenue sources had failed to meet expectations. Tax collections, court fees, officials' fees and state prisoner boarding fees were all down significantly during the 2007-08 fiscal year, which ended June 30. Add the loss of Bekaert Steel Wire Corp., and the county started the 2008-09 fiscal year with a $900,000 shortfall, he said.

The county budget is divided into five main sections: a General Fund with $10.54 million in expenditures, a Highway and Public Works Fund with $5.27 million in expenditures, a General Purpose School Fund with $23.22 million in expenditures; a School Transportation Fund with $2.31 million in expenditures; and a Debt Service Fund with $3.41 million in expenditures.

When Agee called for public comments, Joe Bradford of Dyersburg asked the commissioners to consider making a statement on the inequitable gasoline prices in West Tennessee. He said Exxon gasoline cost $3.28 a gallon in Covington and $3.59 in Dyersburg on Thursday. That's a 31-cent difference. Bradford said gasoline is delivered in 9,000-gallon tankers, which means Dyer Countians pay $2,790 more for a load of gasoline than do residents of Covington.

If the county pays that kind of difference for school bus and highway equipment fuel, Bradford said the county is "getting taken to the cleaners."

Bradford suggested that a county government representative write a letter to the editor or to gas station owners about the situation.

Magee, chairman of the commission, said he would ask the budget committee to study the situation. He also suggested that Bradford meet with the school board.

The County Commission is scheduled to consider the proposed budget and property tax rate during its monthly meeting at 7 p.m. Aug. 25 in the upstairs courtroom of the Dyer County Courthouse.