By Katie Northcott, News Director
Coffee County Commissioner Terry Hershman broached the subject of a property tax increase at the county’s Budget & Finance Committee meeting on Thursday, May 28.
Hershman said that the county is looking at a $600,000 deficit on its FY27 budget. He suggested a six-cent increase on every $100 appraised property value in the county. He estimated that the county budget would increase about $1 million.
“I’m trying to stop this bleeding that we’re doing and also trying to look to our future,” Hershman said. “That’s why the state is recommending that we do small increments from now on.”
Hershman said the state recommend that counties and municipalities start incrementally increasing taxes now rather than waiting for a crisis and leveling a more significant tax increase.
At the same meeting, Coffee County Register of Deeds Donna Toney and Coffee County Trustee John Marchesoni advocated for pay increases for their employees, which further highlighted the county’s increasing financial burden. Toney said she recently lost an employee who found a higher paying position with a financial institution.
“[County] employees deserve a pay raise, a good pay raise, and I don’t think we should be holding back trying to not do an increase because it’s got to happen because only people who suffer are county employees,” Commissioner Tim Brown said.
The committee opted against making a motion on a tax increase at its May 28 meeting. County Mayor Dennis Hunt said that the committee should wait on the State of Tennessee to issue a Certified Tax Rate for Coffee County. The Certified Tax Rate is a tool the state uses to prevent counties and municipalities from artificially raising property tax rates due through property reappraisal.
“I honestly feel like we need to wait on the Assessor’s total real property assessed value to set the certified rate,” Hunt said. “That’s the only way you’re going to know the exact revenue number.”
The committee will meet again on either Thursday, June 4 or Tuesday, June 9, depending on whether the Assessor’s office has set the certified rate by June 4.
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