feet, which start at $1,330 and $1,555, respectively. Two-bedroom, two-bath units range from $1,950 to $2,561. A month. Renters who dream of owning a home find it difficult to save for one when their rent is more than a mortgage payment. This leaves many West Nashvillians asking, where are the affordable options?
First steps The first week in September saw two important first-step bills approved by Metro Council. One of them, dubbed “Inclusionary Housing,” will offer incentives to developers (or rather, the opportunity to compete for a portion of the $2-million pie) for including affordable housing (either homes or apartments) in their development plans. It’s an “opt-in” plan, which is more carrot than stick; and how much it improves options for displaced or impoverished homeless remains to be seen. The program will be re-evaluated after two years of operation to be continued, revised or replaced. Current projections predict that it will contribute to the addition of around 100 affordable living units per year in Music City. It’s a modest start, to be sure. “This is just a small part of a huge need that Nashville has,” said Councilman Fabian Bedne, an affordable housing advocate who helped spear-
head efforts. “This isn’t just about affordable housing, but it’s about displacement. We have so many families in Nashville that are being displaced by the increased buying of properties. This is a way we can try to start reverting that process.”
The property assessor’s function is different from the trustee’s, but the two work in tandem in terms of a property’s appraised value and the amount of tax that will be applied. Get educated on who does what At a recent information meeting on the subject of affordable housing hosted by Metro Councilwoman Mary Carolyn Roberts, Metro Development and Housing Agency representative Brenda Gill noted that they are begging people to come in and take advantage of their assistance programs. These are federally
funded, so all mandates come from the federal government. “Education is key,” explained Property Assessor Wilhoite, who also encouraged all eligible Nashvillians to investigate the options for freezing property taxes and/or receiving federally funded tax subsidies to help with paying increasing taxes. In addition, Nashvillians who want to appeal their appraisals (which will arrive late Spring 2017) are encouraged to do so as early as possible. So to be clear, it is not the reassessment that raises the tax rate; it will raise or lower the value. Reappraisals are revenue-neutral; the city, however, adjusts the tax rate based on the reappraisal to generate the same amount of revenue. Metro can also propose/vote on tax rate increases, which will make the bills higher. If the property valuation hike does translate to tax increases, it will likely be due to revenue simply needed to pay the bills for government services and operations. The kind of growth we’re experiencing in West Nashville means more taxpayers, of course; but it also means ramping up services and oversight. As mentioned above, one might think that with the huge influx of new properties and new taxpayers, taxes might expect to go down, if anything. It’s a slippery algorithm that, for next year, appears to be slated to return
December 2016–January 2017 | 372WN.com
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