Williamson County Commission Votes Against Property Tax Relief For Franklin Small Business Owners
The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
Business owners in Franklin met with the Williamson County Commission to ask for assistance with property taxes, saying that the help was needed for the businesses, and the downtown Franklin area to continue to thrive but their request was voted down.
A number of local leaders and property owners were in attendance at the Commission’s monthly meeting on November 14th. According to them, property values and commercial property taxes are too high for the small businesses to survive, considering they are already suffering from smaller profit margins.
Tanya Hembree, owner of Onyx and Alabaster interior design company, says that the “Franklin charm” could potentially disappear if they are not given some relief.
“If we want this to sustain and be what it is that we love, we have to consider this topic,” stated Hembree.
Business owners asked for help last year, taking their appeal to the county equalization board. Board member Tim McLaughlin requested help from Commissioner Gregg Lawrence.
Lawrence helped to draft a resolution to propose that the state legislature create a special tax classification for “certain commercial and residential historical properties.”
However, a number of commissioners voted against the resolution because of the residential aspect of the bill, requesting more time to consider edits for the bill.
McLaughlin spoke at the November meeting, agreeing that a tax break was needed to help those business owners continue to be successful and to, in turn, see Franklin continue to thrive.
Brian Preston owns a building that houses several retailers, including Mellow Mushroom. Preston stated that his taxes had increased from $48,000 to $106,000. Per the lease agreements held with those businesses, the taxes were passed on to them.
According to Preston, the increase “literally drew tears out of one of my retailers.” He noted that he had to cut into his own profit to try and help those business owners.
Lawrence noted that last year’s reappraisal hit those property owners hard as property values in the downtown area increased by nearly 200%.
While many commissioners did vote in favor of the resolution, it did not receive the 13 votes needed to pass.
Those who voted against the proposal say they want to provide assistance but the language of the document needs to be reworked to eliminate some of the usage of the term “residential.”
“I don’t think (the current resolution) fully captures what we want to send up,” said Commissioner Matt Williams.
Lawrence says the county tax committee plans to work on rewriting the document and will seek a vote at the commission’s meeting on January 9.
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
Franklin has the MOST overvalued real estate in TN, according to real estate websites, and realtors themselves.