O'Connell's Property Tax Shell Game

Every year, the council adopts a tax levy ordinance, setting the rate on properties in the city. Every four years, the Assessor of Property reviews all those properties and issues a revaluation by conducting a "thorough analysis of the current real estate market."

After the assessor assigns the new values, the state comptroller certifies a new rate. This rate is called the certified tax rate. It’s set to ensure a reappraisal alone can never raise what the city collects. The council can adopt that rate, or vote to go above it.

This year the certified rate came in at $2.222 for the Urban Services District, down from $3.254 the prior year. 

If the council hadn't touched it, your bill would rise or fall depending on how your property moved against everyone else's. Beat the county average, and you pay more. Trail it, and you pay less. Appraisal gains this cycle concentrated at the top of the residential market, which means most Nashville homeowners were in line for a wash or a cut.

The decision to go above the certified rate is informed entirely by the mayor's budget proposal. Last year, the mayor's budget called for nearly $500M in additional spending for schools, affordable housing, pay raises, and the continuation of COVID-era programs funded through now-expired American Rescue Plan funds.

The budget and finance chair at the time, Delishia Porterfield, had to find the revenue. Property taxes are the single largest source of revenue for the city, and all it takes is a simple majority vote to increase the amount of revenue they generate.

So, Porterfield proposed the rate hike, and the council adopted it with a 29-9 vote, increasing the tax levy on properties in the city by 26 percent.

The public conversation around property taxes has mostly centered on commercial businesses. Restaurant closures have consistently made the headlines, and groups such as the Property Tax Coalition have formed to actively lobby for a more sensible approach to the reappraisal process. 

Higher property valuations generally result in steeper tax increases for businesses than for residential properties because commercial properties are taxed on 40 percent of the assessed value. In comparison, residential properties are taxed on only 25 percent.

For the majority of homeowners, bill increases were due more to the mayor’s rate hike than the reappraisal.

Absent the rate hike, 72 percent of residential properties would’ve seen their bill rise no more than 5 percent, and 55 percent would’ve seen their bills decrease. 

So to recap, the Comptroller set the lowest rate in Nashville's history – which is what would've happened after the reappraisal under any mayor. O'Connell then raised that rate to fund some extra stuff – including, oddly enough, affordable housing – and distracted you from this fact by pointing to home value increases, hoping you'd be too stupid to notice.

If you want to look at a clean breakdown of how the reappraisal and rate hike each affected your bill, you can use our property tax calculator on any property in Davidson County.

Use our handy new tool to see what contributed to your property tax bill increase: the reappraisal or the rate hike. (Try It Out)

The Last Laugh

By Rachel Gladstone

The eighth installment in Tales from the Westside.

I have never been a pill-popper. I’m more of a good glass of wine, hit on a joint kind of girl. I can’t understand the thrill of the pill because for me, there is no thrill. There’s only sleep. And it’s not a restful, dreamy kind of sleep; it’s more like the sleep of the dead from which I awake hung over, my hair standing on end like the Bride of Frankenstein with a long, crusty trail of drool caked to the side of my face.

Half a Valium renders me unconscious for a good 12 hours. And even though Benadryl should be innocuous, for me, this little pink pill is the legal doppelganger of the Quaalude, which, by the way, I’ve never tried. I wouldn’t be partying like it was 1999 (as a decades-old song proclaimed), I’d be partying like I was 99.

I was living life as a pill-free woman who didn’t wake up every morning looking like she’d survived a sandstorm in the Sahara. But then it started: the pain. Torturous, constant, debilitating pain began screaming from my knees 24/7. And for the next 10 years, I limped along, icing my joints, overdosing on Aleve and turning a deaf ear to the double knee replacement surgery that was calling my name. Then one day, I caught a glimpse of myself walking towards a full-length mirror and my reflection literally stopped me in my tracks. I was so bowlegged and bent I looked like a gymnast caught in a perpetually bad dismount. I looked like a cross between my Jewish Grandmother and a Leprechaun or maybe Roy Rogers after a long trail ride. It was in that moment that I realized I had two choices: get the surgery or buy a green suit and get a gig selling Lucky Charms.

Continue reading

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• ⚖️ Federal judge lets redistricting law stand; separate immigration law challenge continues.

  A federal judge denied the ACLU's request for a temporary restraining order, allowing Tennessee's newly enacted congressional map to remain in place while the lawsuit challenging the redistricting process moves forward. Separately, civil rights organizations renewed their legal challenge to a Tennessee law that makes illegal immigration a state crime, arguing the measure is unconstitutional because immigration enforcement is primarily a federal responsibility. (Lookout & Lookout)

• 🎓 Tennessee Higher Education Commission approves pathway for three-year degree:

  The Tennessee Higher Education Commission approved a policy allowing the state's public universities to create three-year bachelor's degree programs. Schools can now submit proposals for 90-credit-hour degrees designed to lower costs, reduce student debt, and get graduates into the workforce faster while meeting accreditation requirements.

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• Development company pays $14M for Wedgewood-Houston properties

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• Nashville Zoo rejects DC Blox data center MOU

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• Tony Giarratana jump-starts Elliston Place projects after years of delay

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New Council Watch Features We've added additional features to Council Watch. In addition to who's funding your council member, you can now see how they vote and who they vote with most frequently. (Take a Look)

• 📅View our calendar for the week here. Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.
• 🎧On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.
• 👨🏻‍🌾Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide.

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