Tennessee Comptroller's Office Archives

Jason Mumpower

Note: This story was last updated at 5 p.m.

Roane County properties showed an overall 3.47 percent drop in assessed values in the five-year reappraisal process taken over by state officials this year, and the tax-neutral property tax rate in the City of Oak Ridge has been calculated at $2.52, the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office announced Thursday.

The tax-neutral rate is up from the current $2.39 per $100 of assessed value, a 13-cent increase.

Separately, the Oak Ridge City Council has been asked to consider a tax rate increase of up to eight cents, with a one-cent increase requested by the municipal staff and a seven-cent increase requested by the Oak Ridge Board of Education. TheÂ one-cent increase would help maintain city services and allow for a 2 percent pay raise for city employees, and theÂ seven-cent increase would help cover a deficit and add money for salaries and staff, including a 3 percent pay raise.

Any tax increase, if approved by city officials, would be in addition to the tax-neutral rate calculated by the state. EachÂ additional cent on the property tax rate generates about another $90,000 in revenue. A one-cent increase would cost the owner of a $145,000 house another $3.63 per year. An eight-cent increase could cost that homeowner another $29 per year. [Read more…]

Cathy Best of Anderson County Human Resources Department

Human Resources Director Cathy Best is pictured above in the Anderson County Human Resources Department on Wednesday afternoon. With Best’s agreement, the passwords to the department’s computers had been changed, and a few Anderson County Sheriff’s Department deputies were stationed near the entrance to the HR office as Best and Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank sought to resolve a dispute over how to copy two computer hard drives in the office.

CLINTONâ€”After the sheriff intervened, the Anderson County mayor and human resources director remained at a standoff Wednesday afternoon over how to copy the hard drives of two computers in the countyâ€™s Human Resources Department.

The hard drives could contain personnel records related to building inspector Lisa Crumpley, who was terminated on October 9 and has threatened to sue the county. Her personnel file has been reported missing.

Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank said she wants to preserve records related to Crumpleyâ€™s wrongful termination claim, as instructed by Knoxville law firm Kramer Rayson LLP, which represents Crumpley.

On Tuesday, the day after Human Resources Director Cathy Best announced her resignation, Frank proposed sending the hard drives used by Best and Human Resources Generalist Kerri Ashley, who has also resigned, to a Knoxville company to have copies made.

Terry Frank

But Best objected, Frank said, and the mayor had a technician from Computer Systems Plus come to the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton on Wednesday morning to make copies on-site. The county consultant had started disassembling the computers when Sheriff Paul White showed up, and the technician quit working because he believed he could be arrested if he continued, the mayor said.

Best said she does not object to copying the hard drives, but she wants to ensure that the proper procedure is followed. She said her departmentâ€™s hard drives could contain health information that is not public, conversations with attorneys during the past 10 years, and information that might relate to an investigation by the Anderson County Sheriffâ€™s Department of Crumpleyâ€™s missing personnel file.

â€œI have a right and a duty to maintain the security of these files,â€ Best said. [Read more…]

Roane reappraisals show 3.47 percent assessment drop; OR tax rate calculated at $2.52

Sheriff intervenes in standoff between mayor, HR director over computer hard drives