GERMANTOWN, Tenn. – Shelby County Property Assessor Melvin Burgess is hitting back against accusations his office reneged on a promise to victims of a flash flood nearly two years ago.
Several homeowners in Germantown say they were told at a meeting with property assessor staffers weeks after the 2019 flood that when their homes were reassessed this year, the flood would be taken into account.
“They were looking for anything that they could do to help us with this situation and that our next property tax assessment would be noticeably lower than it should be,” said homeowner Terri Johnson.
Instead, Johnson said her home’s assessed value jumped 24 percent this year.
“It’s definitely a slap in the face,” Johnson said.
WREG was unable to locate video of the 2019 meeting with homeowners, but Burgess said no promises were made about 2021 reappraisals.
“It didn’t come out of my mouth and I don’t think it came out of my team’s mouth because we can’t make promises. I can’t make promises that I know I don’t have no control over,” said Burgess.
He said appraisals are based on area home sales using strict rules set by the state comptrollers office.
Burgess provided WREG with a listed of flooded homes that had sold since the flood, in most cases, for amounts similar to what they were assessed at this year.
“Nothing changed. Nothing changed in Germantown in that neighborhood where the flood happened,” said Burgess.
But homeowners say what needs to change are the assessed values which they insist are higher than they were promised.
“One of the things that’s gonna happen is all of these homes are gonna ask for – they’re gonna appeal this and how are these reappraisals gonna cost in the long run?” said Kristina Garner.
Homeowners will be able to dispute their home’s reappraised value beginning in June. Burgess said his office is happy to walk them through the process.
He also said he’s planning to hold a town hall meeting with homeowners at some point in the near future.