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Tennessee Comptroller finds widespread errors in Rutherford County property assessments; commission orders investigation
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Summary
The Tennessee Comptroller told Rutherford County commissioners that a two‑year review of 8,683 parcels found errors in about 25% of sampled properties — including missing new construction and square‑footage miscalculations — and recommended a countywide independent review and adoption of the state's Impact appraisal software. The commission voted to investigate hiring an outside firm.
Jason Mumpower, Tennessee’s comptroller of the treasury, told the Rutherford County Board of Commissioners on Oct. 16 that a state‑directed review of local property assessments found systemic problems in the county assessor’s office that require immediate action.
"We reviewed 8,683 of Rutherford County’s property parcels," Mumpower said, and "we found errors still in 25% of those properties." He described square‑footage errors that produced overvaluations (one example produced a $217,000 overvaluation and a tax refund due of $1,019 per year for the affected homeowner) and multiple cases where completed buildings were not placed on the tax rolls until later years.
Mumpower said his office’s Division of Property Assessments worked at the direction of the State Board of Equalization and devoted 22 staffers and 4,676 hours to the project. He told commissioners that his team found entries that had been deleted from parcel change records, and that some staff in the assessor’s office had changed parcel data during the comptroller’s review. "These record deletions and changes were made by a manual process," he said, adding that the conduct was "very irregular."
The comptroller recommended two concrete steps: an independent third‑party review of every parcel in Rutherford County and migration of the assessor’s office to the state’s Impact appraisal system. "You need an independent third party evaluation of every parcel in Rutherford County," Mumpower said. He also told the commission the comptroller’s office will invoice the county for the costs it incurred carrying out the State Board of Equalization’s order; he cited Tennessee Code Annotated authority and said an invoice for $234,165.67 would be issued.
Commissioners pressed Mumpower for supporting data and methodology. He said the team used a combination of field inspections, property sketches, aerial imagery and other public records and that all underlying analysis is publicly available and was provided to the assessor’s office for entry into the county system. County Attorney Nick Christiansen had earlier warned commissioners not to discuss pending litigation related to the assessor’s office during the presentation.
After the presentation and questions, the chair proposed a motion directing the county attorney and finance director to investigate the legal and financial steps needed to hire an outside third party to review parcels, explore necessary steps to adopt Impact, and report back. The motion was moved, seconded and carried.
What happens next: the commission instructed staff to report options and costs to the board at its November meeting. The comptroller’s office said it will provide support and quality control as corrections are entered by the assessor’s office, and that trustees and municipal collectors will face operational impacts as new bills or refunds are issued.
Details and limits: the comptroller emphasized his office did not review every parcel in the county (that work would be more resource intensive) and said the sample it reviewed came from parcels identified by the State Board of Equalization. He declined to print an estimate of total net tax change until his team completes the final calculations.
The commission’s action does not remove or discipline the assessor; it directs legal and financial review of options and authorization to seek a third‑party assessment contractor. Any changes to personnel, software procurement or formal removal proceedings were discussed as potential future steps but were not adopted at the Oct. 16 meeting.
Sources: Presentation by Jason Mumpower, Comptroller of the Treasury, and public Q&A at the Oct. 16, 2025 Rutherford County Board of Commissioners meeting.
