Rutherford County Mayor Joe Carr Issues Statement Regarding Property Assessor Noncompliance Report

Rutherford County – TN (06/04/2025) Rutherford County Mayor Joe Carr believes the findings in the June 2, 2025 memo from the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury Division of Property Assessments are very serious.

The memo summarizes in March of this year, the State Board of Equalization issued a Notice and Resolution determining that the County was unable or unwilling to comply with the requirements of Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 67-5-501, et seq. The department was given 60 days to correct the noncompliance.

To date, it has been determined that the Rutherford County Property Assessor’s Office failed in its corrective action of a sampling of properties yielding an 11.3% error rate which exceeds the allowable rate of 5%. Based on these findings the Comptroller’s Office will come in immediately and take over operations of the Assessor’s Office. 

Carr was notified by whistleblowers in the summer of 2023 of possible malfeasance and irregularities in the office and due to his legal obligation in state law, Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-4-503(a), was required to report it to the appropriate body. 

"It is frustrating that it has taken so long to move forward, but an issue of this magnitude must be undertaken carefully," Carr said. "The Assessor's Office staff are more than competent; some really good people are there. This is a dereliction of duty and a failure of Rob Mitchell's leadership. For a number of years, he has violated the basic equity application of the law regarding the assessment of property values in this county. Additionally, this violates public trust, and our community deserves better. Based on the error rate of 11.3% and the fact that there are over 130,000 parcels in Rutherford County, there could be as many as 15,000+ parcels that are incorrectly assessed.  This needs to be addressed and rectified immediately. My office has been cooperating with the Comptroller's office and will continue to do so. I am committed to ensuring that our county's property taxpayers are treated fairly and equitably.  I would not think it strange if Mr. Mitchell wanted to submit his resignation."

Carr thanks the Comptroller’s Office and commends them and the staff in the Assessor’s Office for their diligence in trying to uncover the wrongs, so that confidence can be restored to the Rutherford County Property Assessor’s Office. 

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