News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
987 Putnam County taxpayers could benefit from an income-related property tax freeze.
That data point came from meeting one of a Putnam County Commission sub-committee on a proposed Tax Freeze Tuesday. That number is based on an annual income limit of $36,700, the most allowed by the state. The county could choose to lower the limit. County Commissioner and committee member Vinnie Faccinto said it is the goal of the committee to get this in front of the County Commission for a vote with as much research and information gathered as possible.
“Knowing the cost of administration is important on front end,” Faccinto said. “And then I think secondly, before we present it to the commission, if we were to adopt this and if we had a tax increase next year, it’s going to effect the other 41,000 taxpayers by a quarter of a penny or whatever it is to offset it.”
The committee estimated it would take at least two new employees for the program to run efficiently, the cost of which will be estimated and presented at the next committee meeting.
“The one thing we heard it’s a very good program when administered, but there’s been many counties that have the commissions pass it and they don’t give any resources to the trustee or the assessor’s office, and it’s a disaster,” Faccinto said.
The Commission formed the Tax Freeze Committee last month to explore the idea of implementing a Property Tax Freeze plan for senior citizens in Putnam County. Other requirements of the plan, a resident must be over 65 years of age. The resident’s home can be considered or in the case of farmland, it must be five acres of farmland or less to qualify for the freeze.
“Their income is locked in, it’s costing everybody more at the grocery store, anything you buy right now,” Commissioner Kathy Dunn said. “So I think anything we can do to help our senior citizens. If this program is available, and it’s feasible for us to do, I think we need to do it.”
The committee’s next meeting date is to be determined, as they are going to work the date around when the Tennessee Comptroller Office can address the committee to give the State’s perspective on the Tax Freeze. Every committee member said they would do some research and come up with a pros and cons list to present at the next meeting.
Also at the meeting, the Committee elected Commissioner Ben Rodgers as Chairman of the Committee and Commissioner Kathy Dunn as Vice Chairman.
