CORRECTION: With Declining Home Values, Brentwood Might Hike Property Taxes

*Correction (1:59 p.m.) — An earlier version of this article listed incorrect math to calculate a homeowner's expected tax bill. We are sorry for the error.

A move to increase property taxes for homeowners and commercial property owners in Brentwood gained preliminary approval during a Brentwood Ways and Means Committee last Wednesday.

The planned increases are $.06 for residential and $.055 cents for commercial properties per $100 in assessed valuation. For a $123,600 home—Brentwood's median housing value according to the 2000 U.S. Census—homeowners would pay $14.09 in extra taxes if their home values remained the same.

But preliminary data show a $28.4 million drop in residential and commercial assessed valuation in Brentwood. If a home drops in value, then homeowners pay fewer property taxes and the City of Brentwood draws in fewer property tax revenues.

A property tax hike would reverse that.

"These (property taxes) are fixed based on property values, which are down significantly," said Ward 2 Alderman Mike Marshall, who chairs the Ways and Means Committee. "We do everything we can to keep them as low as possible."

Valuation is expected to drop by $1.8 million for residential properties and $26.6 million for commercial properties. Property values have declined every year since 2007, when Brentwood properties climbed to their peak values.

The total property tax, if approved, would be $.662 for homeowners and $.903 for commercial property owners per $100 in assessed valuation.

A public hearing has been scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday, September 19 at . The Brentwood Board of Aldermen will likely vote on the final rate following the public hearing.