Shelby County will have a slightly lowered property tax rate for fiscal year 2023 after commissioners passed a rate of $3.39 per $100 of assessed value Monday night.
That was just lower than the recertified rate of $3.399 set by the state, with commissioners being forced to set the rate either lower — or a bit higher — due to the Shelby County Trustee’s aged system only supporting a tax rate that goes out to two decimal places.
“Lowering the property tax rate to $3.39 allows us to give some relief to Shelby County taxpayers while also making historic investments in our future,” said Shelby County Commissioner Michael Whaley, who chaired this year’s budget committee.
This year’s tax rate is set at $3.45, but the state set the recertified rate after tax revenue for fiscal year 2023 was expected to increase by about $9 million primarily due to assessed value and growth in the county.
You can calculate how much you’ll spend on property taxes at https://www.shelbycountytrustee.com/208/Calculate-Taxes
Or, to calculate a property tax bill, the assessed value is divided by $100, with the result multiplied by the effective tax rate. The example below shows this calculation for a tax rate of $3.39 on a residential property assessed at $100,000:
1) $100,000 appraised value x 25% assessed value for residential property = $25,000
2) $25,000 / $100 = $250
3) $250 x $3.39 = $847.50 tax due
Each penny on the property tax brings in about $2.36 million in revenue to Shelby County Government. 55 percent of the county’s operating revenue comes from property taxes.
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The revenue from the county’s property tax is split between three funds, the general fund, education fund and debt fund. Here’s how the pennies from each $3.39 are allocated:
- General fund: $1.251
- Education fund: $1.587
- Debt fund: $0.552
Katherine Burgess covers county government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com, 901-529-2799 or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.
