The topic of a property tax increase always stirs discussion.
A 20-cent property tax hike was mentioned last week in a county government meeting as a way to generate $1.3 million in additional revenue to fund Warren County school projects.
The Warren County Commission hasn’t passed a tax increase in 14 years. In an analysis, our county tax rate of $1.96 is lower than surrounding counties such as Cannon ($2.75), Coffee ($3.26), Grundy ($2.53), White ($2.05) and Sequatchie ($2.56), according to the Comptroller of the Treasury.
On a statewide basis, Warren County property taxes are 19th lowest of the 95 counties in Tennessee.
County Executive Herschel Wells says it’s way too early to estimate about what lies ahead in the budget process and setting the tax rate for the next fiscal year.
“We don’t have one budget in yet so anything at this point would be purely speculative,” said Wells when asked about the possibility of a tax increase. “After you’ve been working with the budget for a while and you see what you’ve got, you can begin to make a guess.”
If you are a Warren County resident who lives outside McMinnville and Morrison, your property taxes are in the lowest 3 percent of the state.
While the county tax rate is relatively low, McMinnville residents have to pay city taxes too. This is in addition to their county taxes. McMinnville has a property tax rate of $2.08.
Of the 311 municipalities in Tennessee that level taxes, only 17 are higher than McMinnville, according to the Comptroller’s office.
When city and county taxes are combined, McMinnville residents are in the top 20 percent in the state in terms of property taxes paid at $4.04.
Tennessee has 416 different tax districts. Warren County has three – one for the entire county, one for the city of McMinnville, and one for Morrison (11 cents).

COUNTY   RATE
Coffee                $3.26
Cannon              $2.75
Sequatchie         $2.56
Grundy              $2.53
Warren              $1.96
Van Buren         $1.92
DeKalb              $1.83