Johnson City establishes local property tax relief program

Commissioners passed a local property tax relief program Thursday night at its regularly scheduled meeting that could provide hundreds of eligible Johnson City homeowners with additional reimbursements. The now-approved program will provide those eligible for an existing statewide property tax relief program with a local match. "This is a program that we've been asked for," City Finance Director Stephanie Laos said to commissioners. "Every year, people come in and they're requesting that the city do this. So I think it's going to be a very, very good program for the city to implement." Local tax relief programs like the one Johnson City has proposed already exist in Sullivan and Washington counties, and in Bristol, Kingsport and Jonesborough. Almost 1,000 Johnson City homeowners were approved for state relief in 2025, according to Laos' presentation to commissioners. The program is available for low-income elderly and disabled homeowners, and disabled veteran homeowners or their surviving spouses. Statewide, the program had over 152,000 claims totaling more than $43 million last year, according to Laos. Laos said the city plans to set its relief total to the amount set by the state for reimbursements to elderly and disabled applicants. However, all applicants deemed eligible under the state program will be able to receive the additional local relief — regardless of classification. The board unanimously approved the new program. Commissioners Greg Cox, Jenny Brock and Whitney Goetz all said they want to see efforts by city staff to spread the word about the city's new program citizens know the additional relief is now available. "I hope we can do some proactive advertising about it to make it easy for people," Brock said. "I would encourage the citizens just to know that if you don't know if you're going to be eligible and if you think you may be eligible, apply," Laos said. "The program is out there for everybody and it's a really good program." The new program requires the city to set its annual property tax relief amount annually via resolution. Laos said she expects that city staff will be able to bring a resolution to the commission in September to set the 2026 city relief amount.