NASHVILLE, TN — Many Davidson County homeowners are seeing record-high increases in their property tax bills, though it should come as no surprise. Property tax bills are mailed out in October by the Office of the Davidson County Trustee. The Davidson County Assessor of Property, Vivian Wilhoite, sent Notices of Value to homeowners in April, informing them of their new property value. The Assessor of Property, based on state law, must analyze the market to determine the new property value for property owners. Wilhoite says that at the same time, her office also issued a press release to inform the Mayor, Metro Council, and various media outlets that the median home value in Davidson County had increased 45 percent, following the latest reappraisal cycle. State law requires Wilhoite’s office to reassess values every four years. The latest assessment shows that Nashville and Davidson County have continued to “experience exponential growth in the real estate market,” said Wilhoite.
“Our job is to provide you (the property owner) with a revenue-neutral value, by law, based on the market,” said Wilhoite. “People need to know that our office does not set the property tax rate,” she stated, referring to the rate that tells a property owner what they will pay in taxes and is used to calculate individual tax bills. The State of Tennessee requires the Mayor and Metro Nashville Council to reduce the tax rates that existed prior to the Reappraisal to revenue-neutral certified tax rates to generate the same amount of revenue as received in the previous year on existing construction. When property values rise, as a result of the market, the tax rates must go down to revenue-neutral certified tax rates to ensure that the county does not get revenue from the Reappraisal. The existing tax rates that existed prior to the Reappraisal of $3.254 for the Urban Services District and $2.922 for the General Services District must be decreased, according to state law.
After the Reappraisal was completed in April 2025, which showed that Davidson County’s market showed a median increase of 45 percent this year, the Metro Council can either keep the lower revenue-neutral certified tax rates or increase the lower revenue-neutral certified tax rates to generate revenue. It is important to know that if the lower revenue-neutral certified tax rates remained, many property owners whose value increased by less than the countywide median of 45 percent would have received property tax bills to pay less taxes. Instead, the Mayor proposed to increase the lower revenue-neutral certified tax rates to revenue-producing tax rates. In June 2025, the Metro Council approved the Mayor’s proposed revenue-producing tax rate above the revenue-neutral certified tax rate from $2.222 to $2.814 per $100 of assessed value for the Urban Services District, the city’s urban core. Additionally, the Metro Council approved the Mayor’s proposed revenue-producing tax rate above the revenue-neutral certified tax rate $1.995 to $2.782 per $100 of assessed value for the General Services District, the tax rate for the rest of Davidson County, beyond its urban core, where property owners pay for trash pickup…