Fayetteville leaders consider 20% property tax increase

FAYETTEVILLE, Tn. (WAFF) - The city of Fayetteville is once again trying to work out how to complete its budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

During a special called meeting on Saturday morning, city leaders proposed the idea of raising property taxes by 30 cents.

The taxes take the assessed value of a property, multiplied by the tax rate.

The current tax rate in Fayetteville is $1.50 per $100 of assessed value. This proposal would raise it to $1.80, leading to a 20% increase.

This comes after the recent proposal to increase property taxes by 35 cents failed on Tuesday.

City leaders were split on the decision, but Mayor Hartman voted it down. She believes this new option strikes a better balance.

“It’s not a big decrease,” said Mayor Hartman, “But you’ve got to think about the taxpayer. Five cents might not sound like a lot but when you’re paying in on, you know hundreds of thousands of dollars of property value. It makes a big difference.”

Mayor Hartman said the way inflation is affecting most industries, the city needs additional sources of revenue.

She said this 30-cent property tax increase, if passed would generate roughly $644,000 annually.

City residents must pay both city and county property taxes. With Lincoln County looking to up its rate by $1.10, that equals about a $700 increase per $200,000 home

Colorado Norton said he’s lived in Fayetteville for several years and finds the potential price hikes outrageous.

“That would increase my mortgage payment by a lot,” said Norton, “ I already pay quite a bit for this area.”

He believes if the tax increase were to pass, it needs to be reinvested into the younger community.

“Give them options as you know, maybe some batting cages go-kart,” said Norton, “You know, just stuff to keep the kids occupied for the summer, weekend. That way they’re not out running in the streets.”

The 30-cent increase would include a 5% raise for all city employees such as firefighters, sanitation workers and police officers.

Gayle Howell believes this would be a wise way to allocate funds.

“I’m all for paying our police officers not they’re not paid enough for what they did,” said Howell, “I have said for so long. It’s kind of like teaching. We’ve paid so little for so long that we’ve attracted the wrong people into the profession.”

The city will hold its next budgetary vote on July 11th.

Lincoln County will hold its vote Tuesday, June 20th.

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