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Sonya Ricker has worked for the people of Hamblen County for 25 years, and at Thursday’s Hamblen County Commission she was recognized with a certificate of appreciation

Ricker, who works in the Hamblen County Soil Conservation District office, received the certificate from Commission Chair Bobby Haun and county officials praised her service.

“I serve on the Soil Conservation Board and we couldn’t do (our work) without her,” Commissioner Rodney Long said.

After the presentation the Commission got to work on the rest of the meeting.

Commissioner Dannie Bell took a moment to thank the deputies and other law enforcement officers who are assigned to courthouse security; a deputy, unfamiliar with all of the commissioners, was noted at the prior committees meeting to have stopped and checked some people as they entered the courthouse earlier in February.

“The security we have is for our protection,” Bell said. “Personally, I was stopped myself, and I thanked him for being responsive.”

The commission passed a resolution approving the two-year lease of modular classrooms at Meadowview Middle School as the school is renovated to enclose open classrooms to improve safety and learning environments.

Assessor of Property Keith Ely presented a five-year plan for a reassessment of Hamblen County property for the purpose of tax assessment.

“We have roughly 34,000 parcels in this county, and we have to review a fourth of those (per year for the next four years,” he said. “We go out and lay hand on (those parcels) and look for additions to the property… if it’s got anything added to it, or taken away from it, any changes at all — that’s what we look at.”

The office said the plan helps organize the next round of assessment and keeps them accountable to the schedule and the Commission accountable to fund the plan.

Ely warned that people will not be expecting, or necessarily pleased, when they get their updated appraisal for their property.

“It’s going to be sticker shock when this reappraisal happens this year,” he said. “We’re going to have the largest increase we’ve ever had in 2025.”

Property appraisals are updated every 5 years and a 15 to 18 percent increase in value is normal.

Ely said he expects there to be around a 70% increase in value based on recent reappraisals that were performed in Jefferson County.

While property appraised values will be going up, state law prevents an increase in revenue based on the new figures; basically, property tax rates will automatically be cut for property owners so that the rate reflects what they have already been paying. It would take a Commission vote to then raise property taxes to see an increase.

“Separation of the assessment function from the taxation function protects property owners from possible unfair treatment,” the Tennessee Comptroller office says on its website.

Ely will be presenting a more detailed presentation on the process in March.