Shelby County cities oppose two-year property reappraisal
Action deferred by State Board of Equalization
Shelby County’s seven municipal mayors signed a letter opposing the proposed two-year property reappraisal cycle, and now final action on the proposal has been deferred by the State Board of Equalization.
“This proposal is fraught with financial, administrative and practical issues,” wrote Germantown Mayor Mike Palazzolo in a letter signed by the other municipal mayors (Arlington, Lakeland, Bartlett, Millington, Collierville and Memphis).
Moving to a two-year reappraisal cycle will increase the cost of the service to the city with no added benefit, he wrote. It will also keep the municipalities in a constant state of adopting a certified tax rate, determinizing the appropriate amount for appeals and then rolling the tax rate back the following year only to star the process over again.
“This will create tax rate uncertainty for current and long-range budgeting and anxiety with our residential and business customers as they monitor local tax adjustments and understand the actual value of their personal or commercial asset,” Palazzolo wrote.
Last week, the proposal to move to a two-year property reappraisal cycle was brought before the State Board of Equalization. The board voted to defer final action on the proposal until its next meeting in October and asked Shelby County Assessor Melvin Burgess to return with both two-year and four-year reappraisal plans.
One of the main reasons for deferring action was the letter from Shelby County’s city mayors, said John Dunn, director of communications for the Comptroller of the Treasury.
“The motion to defer was accompanied by a suggestion that Assessor Burgess and his team work to develop more buy-in with the municipalities,” Dunn said in an email.
Javier Bailey, chief administrator of the assessor’s office, said the assessor’s office does not yet have a plan for a course of action if the two-year plan is rejected in October, but will not necessarily move forward with a four-year plan.
“We believe the law is that every assessor constitutionally has the authority and has the dictate to formulate a plan for his or her county to periodically revalue all of the properties in that county and hat they’re supposed to submit a plan for approval, but that approval is not supposed to be based on politics,” Bailey said. “It is to make sure the assessor is following the law and that achieves equalization. Some of the ancillary things that were brought up were political in nature, so we’re not sure we’re going to allow that to be the precedent that is set.”
Between now and October, the assessor’s office will work with the municipalities to try to get more buy-in for the two-year plan, Bailey said.
Katherine Burgess covers county government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com, 901-529-2799 or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.