State Legislation To Be Considered For Putnam Property Tax Losses

The state legislative will consider a bill to restore property tax revenue lost by the county during the March tornado.

The total $4.7 million dollar bill for the loss of property tax value for Putnam. State Representative Ryan Williams said the bill is meant to make up the loss of property tax revenue for 275 destroyed residential properties.

“They only have to pay property taxes on what the value of the property is,” Williams said. “When we condemned all those houses and demolished them, the asset value went from a $200,000 house to a $30,000 dollar lot. And so, there was a net change in the overall asset value of $170,000.”

Williams said the state bill is redrafted and ready to be filed. The funds for the bill are already set aside through Gov. Bill Lee’s tornado response. The bill originally passed in the House earlier this year, but the Senate decided not to pick it up due to COVID.

“We have done that for tornadoes in Bradley County in Chattanooga,” Williams said. “We did it last when the fires in Gatlinburg with all those homes and rental homes devastated by fire. Sevierville had a huge loss in property tax revenue because of that.”

Since the bill did not pass the last time state legislation met, it must pass in the same session by both chamber or be signed by Gov. Lee. $350,000 is also included for the city of Cookeville.