Downtown Chattanooga produced over $32 million dollars in property tax revenue for the City of Chattanooga and Hamilton County in 2017. The figure increases to $44.5 million dollars when the NorthShore is included. The figures come from a newly-released report by Metro Idea Project, MIP, commissioned by River City Company. Since 2013, property tax revenues in Downtown Chattanooga have grown nearly 39% adding an additional $4.9 million dollars to the city and county tax base.
“When River City Company is asked, ‘why should we continue to invest in Downtown or why does the investment matter to me,’ these figures show investment in our Downtown helps everyone in Hamilton County,” said Kim White, CEO of River City Company.
“Continued, thoughtful investment in our urban core creates a dynamic city and also provides resources for services and amenities for all of our neighbors. These property tax revenues are going to continue going up in the coming years.”
In addition to being the highest grossing property tax generator in Hamilton County, Downtown Chattanooga produced the highest amount of revenue on a per acre basis at approximately $35,000 per acre, with the second- and third-highest (North Chattanooga and the Hamilton Place mall area) generating $19,500 and $9,000 per acre respectively. Downtown Chattanooga occupies one-tenth of 1 percent of the county’s geographic footprint and provides nearly 4.5 percent of the county’s overall property tax revenues.
The Downtown Chattanooga footprint also contributes over $7.5 million to school funding in Hamilton County.
“After analyzing nearly 1.3 million tax records across Hamilton County, our community now, for the first time, has a high-resolution look at how growth and development impacts our local tax base,” said Joda Thongnopnua, executive director for the Metro Ideas Project. “After looking at the data, what’s unmistakable is that the rate of tax revenue growth from the downtown area has accelerated dramatically over the past five years.”
According to the report, Downtown Chattanooga is the highest revenue generating area over a five-year period. The scale of Downtown Chattanooga’s revenue that’s generated per acre from a small portion of our community stands out.
To download the full report, visit www.rivercitycompany.com or click here.