Tax Rate Truth – Part 2: Do The Math

For over 15 years I have worked in corporate finance. I have made a living telling stories with numbers, helping executive leadership to understand complex investments, operations and projects in as simple terms as possible. It is easy to get turned around by all these numbers, it happens to the best of us. That is why I have worked with my father, a retired Certified Financial Planner, to double and triple check these calculations.

The first step in this process is to look at the FY14 rate and its individual components. As you read this you will find that there are clear economic, legislative and community needs that drove the increases.

Step two is to account for the impact of the FY18 reassessment impact. The reassessment raised the average value of property in Germantown by 9.7% between FY14 and FY18. That doesn’t mean that every house went up in value by that amount, it is simply the weighted average impact to assessed values of property in Germantown. To keep comply with the Truth in Taxation laws and keep the revenue generated from the city’s property tax rate flat, it was calculated that the rate should go down to $1.76. So all of the items above that used to sum up to a $1.93 tax rate now sum up to $1.76. I will refer to that impact as rate restatement. That means that the base rate in FY14 is no longer $1.485, the impact of the reassessment make that $1.354. The math in the table below shows the breakdown of the FY14 rate in FY18 terms.

One major part of our concern is that the impact of the FY14 reassessment is lumped into their calculation for the tax increase. In FY14, the decline of property values meant that the rate had to be increased to hold revenues flat (the inverse of what happened in FY18). That is the second of the two lines highlighted in red above. That going forward that number is included in my FY14 base as it is not an assessment impact as opposed to a rate increase.

To accurately state a growth rate you have to have a good starting number. When they use $1.485 as their starting point they are omitting two key factors for accurate analysis, assessment impact and rate restatement. So when you restate the rate it is $1.354 and add back the assessment impact of $0.087 your growth rate should be calculated based on $1.441 in terms of the FY18 tax rate.

The table below shows how you add up the restated components of the FY14 tax rate with the FY18 increases to get the final rate approved by the BMA.

Now we are in a position to calculate a growth rate. We have a correctly adjusted base number to have a true apples to apples comparison. You can see the components that drive the increase. Please take a moment to understand the importance of the Sales Tax Impact and why we must be conservative in our budgeting of it by reading Part 3 of this blog. It is also important to understand that the FY14 increase was intended to restore reserve balances that had been lowered due to the Great Recession, read more about that in Part 4 of this blog.

Also keep in mind that these rates help fund our schools and 9% points of the total increase of 36.7% directly funds the needs of our new elementary school and Forrest Hill improvements needed to access it. The Hall Tax is a state income tax that was allocated to municipalities and is being phased out. That funding gap needs to be addressed. When you look at the components, it is clear to see your taxes were not frivolously raised for no reason. As stated previously, there are clear economic, legislative and community needs that drove all of these increase. These rates have helped fund deferred maintenance at GMSD, invest in parks, improve the police force and add ambulance service. All these things add to quality of life in Germantown and make it the place to live in Shelby County.

Keep in mind that the value that you get for that $1.97 (or $1.95 for FY19) tax rate. Our neighbors in Memphis pay $4.05 or over double our rate.  Collierville pays $1.83 but they have a much larger dependency on sales tax with more big box stores like Lowe’s, Home Depot and Walmart. They also see more sales tax revenue from car dealerships and the Carriage Crossing Mall. Collierville’s dependency on sales tax, and shortages this year, resulted in them having to cut positions from their FY19 budget. We don’t want to be in that position thus we budget conservatively.

Author: Brian Ueleke

Husband, Father and Germantown resident. Offering experienced perspective with a Finance degree, MBA and 15 years of Corporate Finance experience in budgeting, operational and capital project analysis. View all posts by Brian Ueleke