Carter County’s tax rate decreased by 47% after state recalculates after reappraisals

Carter County’s tax rate will decrease by 47%, from $2.18 per $100 of assessed value to just under $1.16 and that will bring the average property owner’s new tax bill into close alignment with last year’s as owners saw average values nearly double. Carter County Commissioner Aaron Frazier explained that because counties and cities are “not allowed to get a windfall” no matter how much higher reappraisals are, after the reappraisals, counties send the old base assessment and the new base assessment to the state. The state then calculates the tax rate required for a local government to bring in the same amount of total property tax revenue as it did the year before. Elizabethton’s city tax rate has also been adjusted by a similar amount.