What The 2026 Knox County Reappraisal Actually Means For A Farragut Buyer

If you have been touring homes in Farragut this June, the property tax figure printed on the listing sheet is the least reliable number in the packet. The county just reset every appraised value, the tax rate that gets applied to those values has not been adopted yet, and the one line item that did not change is the one most buyers do not think about: the Town of Farragut still does not levy a municipal property tax.

That single fact is doing more work in your closing disclosure than the assessor's new number, and it is the reason two houses of the same price sitting a mile apart in the same 37934 ZIP can carry escrow lines that are hundreds of dollars per month apart.

The number on the listing sheet is a placeholder right now

In May 2026 the Knox County Property Assessor's Office mailed reappraisal notices reflecting a countywide jump in residential appraised values of roughly 60 percent since the last cycle in 2022. Local coverage of the mailing, including WVLT's May 13 report, captured the sticker shock and the standard reassurance from the county's finance office: Tennessee's certified tax rate law forces the county to roll the rate down after a reappraisal so that total collections stay revenue neutral in aggregate.

Assessor Phil Ballard has publicly floated a new county rate near $1.00 per $100 of assessed value, down from the current $1.5540. The Knox County Commission sets the final certified rate later this summer. Until it does, any "estimated taxes" line on a Farragut listing is quoting either the old rate against the old value or the old rate against the new value. Neither one is what you will actually pay.

The practical read for a buyer under contract in June or July: ask your lender to escrow conservatively and expect the first full tax year at the new certified rate to be closer to last year's dollar figure than to last year's figure multiplied by 1.6. That is the point of the revenue-neutral rule.

Why the Farragut escrow line is the one that did not move

Here is the piece that gets lost when the reappraisal story runs statewide. The reappraisal changed values. The certified rate reset will change the county rate. Neither event touched the fact that Farragut homeowners pay one property tax bill, and it goes to Knox County. The Town of Farragut itself has no municipal property tax. According to the Town of Farragut's General Facts page, Farragut residents pay the same $1.55 per $100 of assessed value as any other Knox County resident and nothing on top of that from the town.

The town's FY2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report confirms the structural reason: local sales tax supplies roughly 60 percent of general fund revenue, the town has been debt free since 2001, and the FY2026 budget carries no debt service. Farragut is one of a small number of Tennessee towns that funds itself this way, and it is a structural choice, not a rate that a future board can quietly re-lever.

Compare the two escrow scenarios on a $600,000 home in the summer of 2026, using the current $1.5540 rate and Tennessee's constitutional 25 percent residential assessment ratio:

The Farragut and unincorporated columns are identical today because the town does not stack a rate on top of the county. The City of Knoxville column is where the math changes, and it is why an otherwise identical home a few hundred yards east of Farragut's border carries a monthly escrow line that a Farragut buyer never sees. If you have already read our primer on city versus county taxes for relocators, this is the practical version applied to a specific summer.

When the certified rate drops toward the roughly $1.00 figure Ballard has floated, the county-only figures in the table will compress. The gap between the Farragut row and the Knoxville-city row does not compress at the same speed, because the city sets its own rate on its own schedule.

The timeline the summer market is running on

If you are writing offers in Farragut between now and Labor Day, four dates are shaping the transaction underneath you:

1. May 2026. Reappraisal notices land in mailboxes. Values reflect market movement from 2022 through the assessor's valuation date, not next week's comps.
2. Late May through June. Informal appeal window with the assessor's office. A homeowner can request a field review or submit recent comparable sales through the Knox County Property Assessor's site before the informal window closes.
3. Mid to late June. Follow-up notices lock in the assessed value that will be used for the tax year.
4. July. Board of Equalization opens for formal appeals for owners still unhappy after the informal step. Later in the summer, the Knox County Commission adopts the certified tax rate.

For a seller, the sequence matters because a buyer's lender is going to escrow based on whatever tax figure the closing agent pulls on closing day. If your closing sits before the new certified rate is adopted, expect the escrow figure to look artificially high. That is a conversation for the closing table, not a deal killer.

For a buyer, the sequence matters because the "taxes" field on the listing sheet is quoting a moment in time that no longer describes your future obligation.

How to read a Farragut listing this summer

A short discipline for the next eight weeks of showings:

• Confirm the address is inside Town of Farragut limits, unincorporated Knox County, or inside City of Knoxville limits. All three can carry a 37934 ZIP. Only the last one stacks a city tax on top of the county tax.
• Treat the listing sheet's tax line as a rough historical anchor. Ask your agent to model the payment two ways: at the current $1.5540 county rate against the new assessed value, and at a hypothetical $1.00 to $1.10 rate against the new assessed value. The truth for your first full year of ownership will sit between them.
• If the new assessed value on the parcel already looks meaningfully out of line with what the home is worth, the seller may still be inside the appeal window. That is worth flagging before you write, not after you close.
• Ask whether the parcel sits in an HOA that assesses separately. That figure is untouched by the reappraisal and stacks on top of whatever the county rate becomes.

Our Farragut neighborhood page breaks down which pockets of the town fall clearly inside town limits, which sit just outside in unincorporated Knox, and which addresses need a parcel-by-parcel check.

If you are already under contract

The revenue-neutral rule protects the aggregate. It does not protect the individual. Knox County's finance office has been explicit that a home whose new appraised value climbed by more than the countywide average is likely to see a higher bill even after the rate is rolled back, and a home that climbed by less is likely to see a lower one. If your Farragut home's notice showed an increase that outran the roughly 60 percent countywide average, the informal appeal window is where the money is. If it tracked or undershot the average, your first bill under the new certified rate will likely feel familiar.

Sellers should be prepared for one specific buyer question this summer: "What are the taxes actually going to be?" The honest answer is that no one knows the exact figure until the County Commission adopts the certified rate. The useful answer is the structural one. Inside Farragut, the answer will always be the county rate multiplied by 25 percent of appraised value, with no municipal layer added on top. That has been true since the town was chartered in 1980 and it is still true after this reappraisal.

Quick answers

Does the Town of Farragut have its own property tax? No. Farragut residents pay only the Knox County property tax. The town funds itself primarily through local-option sales tax and has carried no debt since 2001, per its FY2025 CAFR.

Will my Farragut tax bill go up 60 percent because my appraised value went up 60 percent? Very unlikely at that magnitude. State law requires Knox County to set a lower certified rate after a reappraisal so total collections stay roughly neutral. Individual bills move up or down based on whether your home's increase ran above or below the countywide average.

Is the reappraisal cycle changing? Yes. Knox County is moving from a four-year to a two-year reappraisal cycle starting in 2026, which the assessor's office has said is meant to smooth out sticker shock in future cycles.

When will the new certified tax rate be set? Later this summer by the Knox County Commission. Until then, any tax figure on a listing sheet is an estimate, not the number you will escrow.

Does any of this change if I buy in Hardin Valley or Karns instead? The county math is identical, because those addresses are in unincorporated Knox County and pay only the county rate. They do not, however, sit inside a municipality with a structural no-tax pledge. That distinction is philosophical today and practical if a future Farragut board ever revisits the town's revenue mix.

If you are trying to price an offer, list a home, or run a relocation budget while the county rate is still in flux, this is a good week to have a real conversation rather than a portal estimate. Jennifer Whicker works this stretch of West Knox with an appraiser in the family, which means the number on the listing sheet gets pressure-tested before it hits your closing disclosure. Request your free home valuation and we will walk the tax scenarios for your specific parcel alongside it.