Real Estate Knowledge

Shelby County has the highest property tax rate in the entire State of Tennessee and more than twice that of most of our neighboring counties. Many hardworking property owners in Shelby County continue to watch their property values decline without receiving any reduction in their appraisal. The Assessors office is responsible for appraising property accurately and fairly based on CURRENT market conditions. It is not responsible for meeting any predetermined values based on county budget needs. Shelby County needs an Assessor who has current, real world experience in the volatile real estate market we are in.

 

Fair Appeals and Good Customer Service

Shelby County has the highest property tax appeal rate in the entire southeast United States. Appealing an appraisal is an uncomfortable situation for most taxpayers and has become a cottage industry for many tax consulting firms in Shelby County. Good customer service is a basic tenet of any sound business model and all taxpayers should expect friendly treatment when making contact with the Assessors office.  It starts with a management philosophy that demands all customers be treated with the same dignity and respect they would expect themselves. We need an Assessor with a solid background in business management and customer service.

 

Fiscal Responsibility

Shelby County currently has a debt of around 2 Billion Dollars. Much of this debt can be attributed to out of control waste of taxpayer dollars being spent on the high-paid salaries of political appointees and career bureaucrats. The Shelby County Assessors office has over twenty full-time appointed positions costing taxpayers over one million dollars a year. Shelby County needs a fiscally minded, small government conservative in the Assessors office that will eliminate this abuse of taxpayer dollars.

 

Technology and Efficiency

Improvements in technology over the past two decades have dramatically improved efficiency resulting in reduced operation costs and improved data availability in the public and private sector. Many individual taxpayers, associations, governmental agencies, and private firms rely on data generated out of the Assessors Office for their own operations, which is public information. A single visit to the Assessor of Property website will demonstrate the Clark administration’s (under the leadership of Cheyenne Johnson) unwillingness to embrace the latest technologies. Shelby County needs an Assessor who understands the relationship between real estate market changes, inter-governmental and private sector data sharing, and how technology can be used to improve efficiencies at all levels of the Assessors office.