Updated: 10/20/2006 8:46:53 AM
When it comes to taxes, it seems like the news is rarely good. But it is good news for one group of East Tennesseans. They are actually getting a refund this year of all the city property taxes they paid.
Residents of Midtown in Roane County are getting back all the city property taxes they paid from 1999 through 2003. It is happening because what they thought was their city is not a city. There is always a game and a cold drink at the Fraternal Order of Eagles clubhouse in Midtown. This month there is something extra.
"They put in the paper you can come back and get your taxes back since they're not a city," said Larry Turpin, the local secretary of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Since a court ruled Midtown was not a city, it never had the authority to collect property taxes. So anyone who paid Midtown taxes, got them back.
"I went and checked on it. I didn't think it would, and when it come back we actually got money back," said Turpin. They got $352 the club had paid on their building.
At Midtown Discount Tires the check was even bigger.
"I got a letter in the mail with a check. I didn't know what to think," said Midtown Discount Tires owner Melvin Glen Marlow. Marlow got back $539.
"I called and checked, make sure it was OK to cash it before I cashed it," said Marlow. It was OK to cash, but Marlow says he would give it back if he could keep his hometown a city, so it could stay Midtown and never be in danger of annexation. Nonetheless he admits the delivery from the tax collector was a pleasant surprise.
