Two-year real estate appraisal approved by commission
By Mike Steely
Senior Writer
steelym@knoxfocus.com
The Knox County Commission voted last week to change the routine four-year appraisal of real estate properties to a two-year cycle. On the recommendation of the Knox County Mayor and Property Assessor and the full endorsement of the commission, the re-assessment change was spurred by a presentation at the meeting by Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower.
Mumpower said that Knox County is the 6th fastest growing area in the state and, according to U-Haul, Tennessee is the fifth most popular state for incoming residents. He added that the change to a two-year appraisal of real property is “happening across the state.”
The change doesn’t mean that the county property tax rate will be increasing, but the estimated value of a home or property will increase. Finance Director Chris Caldwell explained it to The Focus: “The two-year cycle has the same requirements as the four-year cycle, including equalization. For example, in that two-year cycle, if home values go up 20% on the aggregate, the tax rate will come down 20%. Thus, your taxes would be unchanged if your home increased by 20%. Some homes and businesses will see increases greater than this amount, and their taxes will go up, while others will see a lesser increase, and their taxes will go down.”
The commission also voted to authorize the purchase of the Fort Loudon Waste & Recycling Inc. site at 2742 Hancock Street and 302 North Avenue in Knoxville. The facility suffered two fires in recent years. The $4.3 million commercial purchase and sales agreement was sponsored by Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs and Commissioners Courtney Durrett, Rhonda Lee, Kim Frazier and Angela Russell.
Durrett, who represents District 2 where the abandoned waste recycling facility is located, noted the concerns of the Oakwood-Lincoln Park neighborhood and said the change to a county distribution center there will “bring life” back to the area.
American Medical Response Director of Operations Jerry Carnish reported on his company’s first year’s assessment of service under the new contract with the county. He noted success in reducing response time and attributed this to increased staffing. He told the commission that increasing the nurse navigation system has been freeing up available ambulances and agreements with local allied agencies for some nonemergency calls have also helped. He said AMR still has challenges with hospital wait times but said those have been declining thanks to monthly meetings with hospitals. He also noted that Knox County 911 will be taking over dispatching AMR ambulances sometime this summer.
In other business, the commission voted to approve a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant of $2 million for a program dealing with “aging in place” home modifications for low-income senior residents. Commissioner Andy Fox wanted a discussion on the funding, noting his disapproval of using federal funds for any project and calling the funds “borrowed money.” Fox was the only “No” vote on the resolution.
The commission voted to approve creating two turning lanes on Westland Drive. Knox Developers LLC signed an MOU agreeing to take care of the planning, design and construction of the project, which will place a turn lane on Westland at Ridge Climber Way. Robert G. Campbell & Associates will be contracted for $48,000 for the design of a left turn lane onto Ridge Climber Road.
The commission also approved several changes to their meeting rules, including opening up the application process to the public for appointments to boards and committees and specifying the responsibilities of the chair and vice chair on the Development Corporation Board.
Several commission agenda items were moved to their March meeting, including the installation of a signal at Bakertown Road and Schaad Road, improvements at the intersection of Kingston Pike and Ebenezer Road, and updating recording fees at the Knox County Register’s Office.
