February 7, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
Should DeKalb County adopt a property tax freeze for eligible senior citizens?
County Mayor Matt Adcock wants to make that happen and will propose that the county commission adopt a resolution authorizing it at the next regular monthly meeting on February 27.
“I want to give senior citizens that are at the poverty level the opportunity to keep paying the property tax rate they are paying now because I know going forward DeKalb County is growing and we have talked about building a school and a jail so with that possibly forthcoming I wanted to do something to ease the property tax burden on senior citizens with fixed incomes even if we have to increase the property tax rate at some point in the future,” County Mayor Adcock told WJLE.
In November 2006, Tennessee voters approved an amendment to Article II, Section 28 of the Tennessee Constitution giving the General Assembly the authority by general law to authorize counties and/or municipalities to implement a local option property tax freeze for taxpayers 65 years of age or older.
In its 2007 session, the 105th General Assembly enacted the Property Tax Freeze Act which establishes the tax freeze and authorizes the legislative body of any county and/or municipality to adopt the property tax freeze program. The Act became effective on July 1, 2007.
Under the program, homeowners qualifying for the program would have the property taxes on their principal residence (up to five acres) frozen at a base tax amount, which is the amount of taxes owed in the year they first qualify for the program. Thereafter, as long as the owner continues to qualify for the program, the amount of property taxes owed for that property generally would not change, even if there is a property tax rate increase or county-wide reappraisal.
In order to qualify, the homeowner must file an application annually and must:
·Own their principal place of residence in a participating county and/or city
·Be 65 years of age or older by the end of the year in which the application is filed
·Have an income from all sources that does not exceed the county income limit established for that tax year which for DeKalb County is $33,460 for tax year 2023.
In counties or municipalities participating in the Tax Freeze Program, an application may be made annually to the County Trustee or city collecting official.
The state Comptroller’s Office will calculate the income limit for each county annually using a formula outlined in state law.
Situations, where the base tax amount would change for a homeowner, are:
·When improvements are made to the property resulting in an increase in its value
·When the homeowner sells their home and purchases another residence
The tax freeze is available only on the principal place of residence of the qualifying homeowner located in a participating county or city.