Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Harlan City Council voted to set the city’s tax rate for real and tangible property during the panel’s regular August meeting, leaving the rates unchanged.
Mayor Joe Meadors addressed the matter early in the meeting.
“We need to do the 2024 property tax rates,” Meadors said. “You should have a sheet there that shows what our 2023 assessments were versus 2024 assessments.”
Meadors pointed out the real property assessments went up this year.
“The 2024 assessments went up about $1.639 million,” Meadors said. “A lot of that is because of property being bought and sold. In our community, most of the time when it’s bought and sold the higher the purchase price has been and that ups the appraisals.”
Meadors told the council tangible property did not see much of a change this year.
“Our tangible property did not go up much at all,” Meadors said. “But it didn’t go down.”
Meadors mentioned to the council the city is required to fund the assessments.
“We have to pay for our tax assessments,” Meadors said. “Schools don’t have to do that, and county government doesn’t have to do that, but city’s do.”
Meadors advised the council assessments on real property were up $1.6 million, tangible property went up $64,000 and motor vehicle went up $630,000.
“The two places we have wiggle room are the real property and the tangible property,” Meadors said. “Last year, our rates were .46 cents (per $100 of assessed value) and .4879 cents (per $100 or assessed value).”
Meadors added motor vehicle tax is .32 cents per $100 or assessed value but that rate cannot be adjusted by the council.
“If we keep the same rates that we did last year, this will bring in a little extra money because the assessments went up,” Meadors said. “Your actual tax rate is not going to change.”
Meadors added watercraft assessments went down.
“My recommendation is to just keep the rates like they are,” Meadors said. “We’re not giving anybody a tax rate increase and that will bring us just a little bit extra revenue which we need, everything we buy everyday goes up.”
Following some discussion, council member Jeanne Lee made a motion to leave the city’s real property and tangible property rates unchanged. Council member Ann Hensley seconded the motion. The council passed the motion with no opposition.