Financial adviser outlines how state’s Senate Bill 1 could shrink Franklin’s tax base and shift income-tax authority

Jeff Peters, the city’s financial adviser, told the Franklin City Council on Oct. 20 that recent changes in state legislation (discussed in the meeting as “Senate Bill 1”) will materially alter local property- and income-tax rules and could reduce Franklin’s available revenue.

Peters said the law will cut the assessed share of residential (homestead) property so that, once fully implemented, taxable assessed value for many homes will fall to roughly one-third of gross value. He said other property classes would also be reduced (rental/residential/ag properties to about two-thirds of current assessed value), and the exemption threshold for business personal property that must be reported will rise from $80,000 to $2,000,000, removing more business personal property from local tax rolls.

Those assessment changes, Peters said, will lower the city’s assessed base and can trigger higher tax rates and more properties…