By Bill Short
The Millington Board of Mayor and Aldermen has passed an ordinance on final reading that adopts a $1.40 property tax rate for the 2022 fiscal year.
Board members took the action during their June 14 regular monthly meeting on a motion offered by Alderman Don Lowry and seconded by Alderman Thomas McGhee.
The motion was passed by six affirmative votes, with Alderman Mike Caruthers dissenting.
The ordinance will levy a tax on real and personal property at the new rate of $1.40 for each $100 of assessed valuation.
When collected, 85 cents of that rate will be apportioned for Millington’s “general purposes” and 55 cents for the city’s debt service.
But shortly before its vote on the new rate, the board unanimously adopted a resolution approving the “certified” rate for the 2021 tax year.
The resolution states that the Shelby County assessor completed a required reappraisal of all real and personal property in the county and certified the Jan. 1 values as of April 20.
It notes that Section 67-5-1701 of the Tennessee Code Annotated defines the certified property tax rate that must be calculated and adopted by a local government when reappraisal occurs.
The resolution states that the county assessor and the Tennessee Board of Equalization have reviewed and approved Millington’s calculation of the certified tax rate according to the methodology established by the state comptroller.
Immediately after adopting the resolution, the board considered a motion offered by Caruthers to approve the certified rate of $1.28 instead of the previous rate of $1.53.
He noted that Millington is “coming out of the pandemic.” And because of the “great job” City Manager Ed Haley and the department directors did last year, he said $1 million will be returned to the Capital Projects Fund.
“We’ve got a lot of growth coming in,” Caruthers said. “We’ve got new houses and new businesses. So, at this point in time, I don’t think we need to make any type of rate increase over the $1.28.”
But his motion was defeated when he cast the only affirmative vote for it.
Alderman Bethany Huffman then offered a motion to adjust the tax rate to $1.45.
She said it would allow for the “significant” number of appeals that she believes the city will have this year, because many residents received assessments that are 45 percent larger than their previous ones.
Huffman did not think the board would be doing the residents a “favor” by setting a “very low” rate and then having to increase it.
“So, I’m looking at some medium ground that allows us to reduce what we currently have,” she said, “but also allows us to assure that we don’t end up with a financial issue in the city.”
But Huffman’s motion also failed when she and Alderman Larry Dagen cast the only affirmative votes for it.
Lowry then offered his motion while citing his belief that there will “certainly” be many assessment appeals.
“We need to look at approximately 10 percent more than the tax rate, which is $1.28,” he noted. “We do not need to come up short and then have to raise it a lot next year.”
In response to a question by Alderman Jon Crisp, City Finance Director John Trusty said he believes the $1.40 rate will be “adequate” to operate the city and will not put it in a “bind.”
When Caruthers again cited the $1 million turnback, Huffman noted that the Capital Projects budget is “significantly underfunded.”
“The fact that our department heads have managed their funds well is serving our citizens well,” she said, “because we’re not raising taxes for capital projects. We’re able to get that out of the General Fund.”
In response to another question by Crisp, Trusty noted that the commercial growth in Millington has “really increased” the sales tax revenue, which is a “significant portion” of the city’s budget. And that is why it does not need to increase property taxes.
“Plus, when you consider that even a penny on the tax rate historically has drawn about $17,000,” he concluded, “it takes a lot of pennies to raise the tax rate to do anything.”
