MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WGNS News) - Rutherford County Property Assessor Rob Mitchell continues to draw attention to concerns involving the assessment of property across Tennessee and the educational resources available to county property assessors. His recent findings suggest that elected assessors may not have access to the level of professional support some were previously led to believe was available. Most recently, Mitchell began questioning how quickly the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office closed complaints concerning the legal status of a statewide assessors’ association that has received public funding for training and professional services.
Mitchell announced Wednesday (07/15/2026) that he remains concerned about payments made to the Tennessee Association of Assessing Officers, commonly known as TNAAO, after state corporate records showed an entity with that name has been inactive for more than four decades.
WGNS checked records filed with the Tennessee Secretary of State and found exactly what Mitchell noted, a for-profit corporation that was in an inactive status. Their initial filing dates back to 1960, and their organization is listed as being in a delinquent state, with a previous dissolution / revocation filed in 1983. Confusing the matter is that the organizations website (TNAssessors.org) declares "The Tennessee Association of Assessing Officers is a professional organization composed of elected officials serving as Assessors of Property in Tennessee."
Mitchell supplied WGNS with the same details we uncovered in our search, showing the Tennessee Secretary of State business record also shows delinquent annual-report and registered-agent standings, no current registered agent and incomplete Nashville addresses.
WGNS also found a previously listed organization called the Tennessee Professional Assessors Coalition, LLC, with their initial filing in 2024, with their status changing to inactive in August of last year (2025). But their organization does not show a direct relation to the TNAAO.
Mitchell contends that the state record for the TNAAO raises questions about whether public agencies conducted sufficient due diligence before paying the association. However, an inactive corporate registration does not, by itself, conclusively establish that an organization cannot operate under some other legal structure. Tennessee law recognizes unincorporated entities, including unincorporated nonprofit associations, and the Secretary of State says entities may be placed in inactive status after failing to file required annual reports. Whether TNAAO has operated under a separate legally sufficient structure has not been conclusively established by the documents reviewed for this report.
Mitchell said he formally requested an investigation from Gov. Bill Lee and Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti on July 2. His request focused on the association’s corporate status, payments recorded through the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury and the organization’s role in training property-assessment officials.
Eight days later, Mitchell received a response dated July 10 from Assistant Attorney General Matthew F. Jones of the Attorney General’s Public Interest Division.
“The Public Interest Division of the Tennessee Office of the Attorney General has received three complaints from you concerning Tennessee Association of Assessing Officers,” the letter states.
Jones wrote that the division reviewed the complaints and conducted what it described as a thorough investigation. The letter said the office found “no factual or legal basis to review the Association’s activities” and advised Mitchell that the matter had been closed.
The brief response did not detail what records were examined, whether the Attorney General consulted with the Comptroller, or how the office evaluated the association’s corporate status and receipt of public funds.
Mitchell characterized the eight-day turnaround as inadequate and suggested it raises questions about whether the state is protecting established relationships rather than thoroughly examining the use of taxpayer money. That assertion is Mitchell’s opinion; the documents provided do not establish that the Attorney General, Comptroller or another agency improperly shielded TNAAO.
“When a state-level watchdog agency is presented with clear, public records showing that tax dollars are being paid directly to a vendor that legally has not existed since Ronald Reagan’s first term, a thorough investigation is the bare minimum the public deserves,” Mitchell stated. “To dismiss this in eight days with a form letter suggests an effort to protect bureaucratic relationships rather than safeguard public funds.”
Local Reappraisals and Needed Corrections - As Mitchell continues to examine the professional organization serving Tennessee’s property assessors, he is also addressing property appraisals locally. Right now, the Rutherford County Assessor of Property’s Office is working to make any necessary corrections following the 2026 reappraisal. Some issues may be resolved with a simple phone call, while others will have to be presented to the Rutherford County Board of Equalization..
During Rutherford County’s 2026 four-year reappraisal cycle, property owners who disagree with their newly assessed property value must file an appeal within a designated period. Those appeals, which are currently underway, are handled by the Rutherford County Board of Equalization and, when necessary, the state.
Reappraisal notices were mailed to property owners in June, and the Board of Equalization began hearing appeals on June 1, 2026. After a brief pause, the board reconvened on July 7 and will continue hearing from property owners through the end of the first week in August...
Earlier Requests for TNAAO Records - Just like homeowners have the right to voice their concerns over appraisal values, Mitchell has outlined his concern over the professional assessors organization. Mitchell says it is his responsibility to be accurate for area property owners in not only their appraisals, but also in the day-to-day operations of his office. Part of that accuracy lies in who the assessors office reaches out to for educational resources and how the office handles finances that come from taxpayers.
In an email, the assessor showed WGNS that his dispute began over the legal existence of the professional assessors organization before his July complaint. In a December 26, 2024, letter to TNAAO Director Will Denami, Mitchell said his office had requested documentation from several professional organizations receiving membership dues from Rutherford County.
According to Mitchell, TNAAO was the only organization that had not supplied the requested material. He wrote that the first request was sent on April 29, 2024, and that no fewer than three requests had been made.
The letter sought documentation establishing TNAAO’s legal and financial standing, including active registration information and federal tax filings. Mitchell said his staff searched Internal Revenue Service and Secretary of State records but was unable to locate what it considered sufficient documentation.
He subsequently told the association he could not continue spending county money on its membership until it demonstrated that it was legally established and current in its reporting. The attached records include the December letter and a copy of the Secretary of State entry showing the 1983 revocation.
Mitchell said Rutherford County withdrew from the association and requested repayment of approximately $33,800 in membership dues paid since 2012. He reported that the money had not been returned.
Materials released by Mitchell estimate that the Comptroller’s Office paid an additional $24,635 to TNAAO for training and professional services between 2012 and 2024, bringing the combined county and state total identified by his office to approximately $58,435. Those totals are calculations supplied by Mitchell and have not been independently audited as part of this report.
Screenshots furnished by Mitchell appear to show multiple entries in Tennessee’s vendor-payment system under variations of the association’s name, with “Training” listed as the account category. The entries span several fiscal years and include payments ranging from several hundred dollars to several thousand dollars.
State Records Continue to Recognize TNAAO - Additional research shows that, despite the inactive corporate record, TNAAO continues to be recognized in several official state-government materials.
The Comptroller’s website lists the Tennessee Association of Assessing Officers among organizations assisting local governments and provides a Nashville mailing address. The Comptroller’s property-assessment glossary also identifies TNAAO as an assessment-related organization.
The General Assembly has also referred to the association in legislation and official resolutions. A 1990s proposal authorized TNAAO to participate as an employer in the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System, while more recent legislative materials have identified TNAAO’s executive director as a potential appointing or participating official on a proposed state board.
Those references demonstrate that state government has continued to treat TNAAO as an operating professional association. They do not, however, independently answer how the organization is presently structured, whether it operates as an unincorporated association, what tax filings apply to it, or what controls agencies use before issuing payments.
Mitchell is calling for the Comptroller and other state officials to disclose the contracting authority, vendor documentation, tax identification information and verification procedures used for payments to TNAAO.
Rental-Property Classification Dispute - The funding dispute is intertwined with a broader disagreement over the assessment of single-family rental homes.
Mitchell has opposed efforts to classify certain rental properties as commercial rather than residential for property-tax purposes. Tennessee’s assessment ratios are substantially different: residential and farm property is generally assessed at 25% of appraised value, while commercial and industrial property is assessed at 40%.
Mitchell maintains that a single-family home should not lose its residential classification solely because it is rented. He has accused TNAAO and the Comptroller’s Division of Property Assessments of supporting an interpretation that could result in certain rental homes being assessed at the higher commercial ratio.
The assessor said he intends to seek a declaratory order from the Tennessee State Board of Equalization. That board has statewide jurisdiction over property valuation, classification and assessment disputes.
Mitchell’s release also referenced Senate Bill 1675 and House Bill 1670. As amended, the legislation would have revised the definition of residential property to include certain property containing no more than one rental unit and other specified residential configurations. However, the legislation did not pass during the 2026 session: SB 1675 failed in the Senate State and Local Government Committee, while HB 1670 was taken off notice in the House State and Local Government Committee.
Therefore, the bills may represent a potential framework for future legislation, but they were not enacted into law during the session reflected in the General Assembly’s current records.
Questions Remain Unanswered - Mitchell argues that the Attorney General’s closure leaves several matters unresolved, including the legal identity used by TNAAO, the basis for state vendor payments, whether the organization provides financial information to participating counties and whether additional oversight is required.
His supporting statement calls for a special audit, suspension of payments until TNAAO’s status is clarified and a review of the procedures used by state and county agencies before paying professional associations.
At this point, the Attorney General’s letter represents the state’s clearest response: its Public Interest Division said it found no factual or legal basis for further review and closed the matter.
The letter does not constitute a published legal opinion explaining TNAAO’s status, nor does it provide an accounting of the association’s funding. Mitchell said he will continue pressing the matter through the State Board of Equalization and through requests for legislative oversight.
2019 Award in Rutherford County - In 2019, Mitchell and his office were presented with the “Three Star Certification” by the Tennessee Association of Assessing Officers. At that time, Rutherford County posted on their site, "The Three Star Certification is a professional standard of operations recognized by the Tennessee Association of Assessing Officers (TNAAO). The certification represents an operational analysis for compliance in the numerous standards monitored by the division of property assessments, as well as, a demonstrated commitment to continuing education."
Mitchell’s latest allegations continue to be investigated by his office and WGNS will provide any updates as they become available. The Rutherford County elected official is still attempting to determine whether the association presently operates under a legal structure separate from the corporation revoked in 1983 and what documentation supported the public payments.
