RUTHERFORD CO., Tenn. (WTVF) — The Tennessee Comptroller's Office has given Rutherford County Property Assessor Rob Mitchell one week to enter all required audit corrections into the county's property system or face possible legal action.
The warning comes in a letter obtained by NewsChannel 5, setting a November 26 deadline for Mitchell to complete corrections stemming from a state audit of property assessments.
"This letter is an attempt by us to really say to the assessor that time's up," said Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury Director of Communications John Dunn.
If Mitchell fails to meet the deadline, comptroller officials say the Attorney General will get involved.
"It should not take this long. It should not require a back and forth. We've made the corrections, go ahead and take the necessary steps to input them into your system," Dunn said.
The ultimatum comes one month after the comptroller accused the assessor's office of incompetence during a commission meeting.
"There is not one property owning taxpayer in Rutherford County that should have any degree of confidence in their property assessment," said Jason Mumpower, Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury.
According to the letter from Division of Property Assessments Director Bryan L. Kinsey, the state found errors in 11.3% of parcels in a 10% sample review conducted on June 2. The Division shared access to an online folder of all properties needing corrections on August 28, directing the office to begin entering necessary corrections into its Computer-Assisted Mass Appraisal System.
As of the letter's date, the office has completed less than 50% of the necessary corrections, despite having nearly three months to make the changes. When asked for an estimated completion date, Mitchell has been unwilling to provide a projected timeline, according to the letter.
Officials say they've found problems ranging from wrong measurements to new constructions not being taxed at all.
"You'd have a home sitting next to an identical, basically an identical house side by side, and one house was listed with 1000 more square feet than the one next door, even though they were identical," Dunn said.
The Comptroller's office says they reviewed only about 6% of county parcels and found roughly a quarter had alleged mistakes.
"The reason why this is such a concern is because there are taxpayers out there who are due refunds, who might need to pay a little bit more in tax," Dunn said.
The letter emphasizes that due to the serious impacts these corrections will have on many local taxpayers, it is crucial that corrections are made so change notices are sent to the appropriate collecting officials as expeditiously as possible.
"I can say that since this letter went out last week, it does appear that the assessor's office has quickened its pace," Dunn said.
NewsChannel5 reached out to Mitchell, who says legal counsel limits him only to written responses. In a statement, he says more than half the flagged alleged mistakes aren't real. Mitchell says this November 26 deadline is the first firm one the state has given. He says it came late, putting extra pressure on his team, and he won't rush to enter bad data.
In the meantime, the Rutherford County Commission has voted 20 to 1 to hire an independent company to review the assessor's work and verify the claims made by both sides.
Mitchell provided the following full statement:
"The Rutherford County Assessor's Office confirms receipt of the November 12, 2025, email from the Division of Property Assessments (DPA) setting a deadline of Wednesday, November 26, 2025, to complete data entry for all corrections stemming from the recent audit. The email threatens engagement with the Attorney General's office should this deadline not be met.
It is critical to note that this is the first definitive deadline provided by the DPA for a process that began months ago. Its late and sudden arrival places an unfair and unreasonable burden on our staff, especially considering the Division's own flawed audit findings.
Unwarranted Deadline Amidst Massive DPA Reversals
Our commitment is to accuracy and the protection of Rutherford County taxpayers, not to simply key in unverified data under duress. The reasons for the delay are squarely rooted in the DPA's numerous determination reversals and high rate of incorrect directives:
- DPA Reversal on Classification: As of November 17, 2025, the DPA has officially reversed its position on directives that would have forced our office to change single-family rental properties from the residential subclassification (25%) to the significantly higher commercial subclassification (40%) for two properties and we were directed to look for more and send them to them for review. Our office's determination, which protects taxpayers from this unconstitutional 'backdoor tax increase,' has been vindicated by the DPA's own supervisor. We cannot, and will not, be penalized for refusing to implement an illegal tax policy that the DPA now concedes was wrong.
- DPA has reversed their inflation of Cape Cod upper stories which would have inflated the square footage improperly, only after our insistence and the revelation that Zillow and Redfin were used to determine the square footages and not physical inspection.
- High False Flag Rate: Our independent audit of the DPA's initial findings revealed a 58% 'False Flag Rate,' meaning more than half of the items marked as errors were compliant or non-material. The DPA's insistence that we key in these thousands of incorrect or non-material changes (some correcting errors that only affect tax liability by as little as $3.25) has consumed the time that should have been used to correct the 4.75% of items that are true, material errors.
The Rutherford County Assessor's Office has been unfairly placed at a significant disadvantage by the DPA's late-arriving deadline and its refusal to acknowledge the fundamental flaws in its audit methodology. We are committed to completing the necessary material corrections, but we will not be rushed into re-entering a high volume of data that has been proven incorrect, illegal, or non-material, simply to meet an arbitrary deadline. Our priority remains to ensure every property value is fair, accurate, and compliant with state law."
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at Patsy.Montesinos@Newschannel5.com
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