Pigeon Forge Sets $0.1041 Certified Tax Rate

Pigeon Forge City Commission approved the certified property tax rate of $0.1041 per $100 of assessed value on final reading, The Mountain Press reported. The same Monday clip that covered the Westside Connector also recorded the tax-rate third reading. The current rate was $0.1652. This desk is writing the certified rate. The $5.8 million Blalock & Sons Westside Connector contract is already live on this desk. It is background. It is not the lead.

First reading was the commission's regular meeting covered July 14, 2026, by Jeff Farrell. That story said the commission had to approve the rate on two separate readings before it took effect. City Recorder Dennis Clabo: "This is normally part of the budget but because we're in a reappraisal year it had to be separated." The July 28 Mountain Press file is the final reading. This desk will not invent a roll call. Minutes were not in the clips this desk opened. The dollars and the assessed-value tape are.

What did Pigeon Forge actually set at $0.1041?

A certified tax rate after Sevier County's reappraisal, not a new levy. The Mountain Press, July 14: Property Assessor Thomas King sent notices of new appraised values earlier in the year, and the commission waited for final figures after owners appealed. The new rate is the certified tax rate for the city, meaning total revenues collected on property taxes should remain about the same. Most owners should pay about the same city property tax despite a 63 percent increase in assessed value. The total local assessment for property in Pigeon Forge was $1.76 billion, up from $1.1 billion, according to figures the city provided.

The July 28 final-reading clip restated the mechanics: the Sevier County Property Assessor completed new assessments throughout the county this year, with valuations increasing considerably since the last assessment. The city lowered its property tax rate to the certified value, indicating it will collect the same amount in property-tax revenues and that most property owners should still pay about the same total after the adjustment. That is a tax-bill sentence. It is not a reason to add $40,000 to a Parkway condo because the millage dropped, and it is not a reason to cut $40,000 because the assessment jumped.

An earlier budget workshop, also in The Mountain Press, is context only. City Manager David Wear told commissioners the city intended to use the certified rate. Under state law, cities must adjust rates after a reappraisal so collections stay approximately the same. Wear's budget tape included a 2.09 percent assumed revenue increase, a $106.9 million general fund, a $21.5 million water-and-sewer fund, 4 percent employee raises, and 29 new hires. That workshop still needed regular-meeting votes. Do not collapse a workshop into the July 28 final reading. Do not write that a 4 percent city COLA reprices a cabin.

Does a drop from $0.1652 to $0.1041 reprice a Pigeon Forge cabin?

No. Great Smoky Mountains MLS, 12 months ending July 22, 2026, as copied from the live Westside Connector desk: 538 cabin sales, $601,250 median, $349 per square foot, 79 days on market. Condos: 76 sales, $315,000, $298 per square foot, 106 days. Combined cabin and condo: 614 closings, $575,000 median, 83 days. A certified rate is designed to hold city collections roughly flat after a reappraisal. The millage fell because the assessment rose. That is the opposite of a windfall. Disclose the new rate if a buyer asks what the city line will be. Price the cabin to closed comps.

Gatlinburg's 6.91-cent certified rate is a different live URL. Do not mash Sevier County's two tourism towns into one tax story. Pigeon Forge's C-PACER intent resolution is a different live URL. The Westside Connector's $5.8 million phase is a different live URL. If a listing backs up to Golf Drive or the old Z Buda campground alignment, send the buyer to that connector file. If the question is the city rate on the tax bill, this is the file.

Freddie Mac's Aug. 20 survey put the 30-year at 6.65%, down from 6.67% on Aug. 13. Two basis points will not reprice a $601,250 median. Waiting for a full point off will. Other Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg sellers will list into that dip. Do not mark a three-bedroom in the Hills of Tennessee up because the millage printed smaller. Do not cut it because $1.76 billion replaced $1.1 billion on the city's assessment roll.

Can I buy the next Smokies house before this one sells?

You can write the offer. A contingent contract on a 79-day cabin clock is a maybe. The next seller in Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg often has a buyer who is not waiting on a certified-rate explainer. Our proven system puts a written sale date under this house so the next offer is a real buyer.* If you need a date certain, ask about a cash offer. The two-house trap did not change because commission set $0.1041: you cannot honor the next address until this one is settled, and you will not list until you know where you are going.

What should Pigeon Forge and Sevier owners do this week?

1. If you own inside the city, keep the July 14 and July 28 Mountain Press clips in the file. $0.1041 is the certified rate. $0.1652 was the old rate. 63 percent is the assessed-value increase the paper printed. $1.76 billion versus $1.1 billion is the city-provided assessment tape.
2. If you own a cabin, price off the GSM MLS tape — $601,250 cabin median, 79 days — not off a millage that was cut to hold collections flat.
3. Do not retell the $5.8 million Westside Connector as this lead. That post is live. This article is the tax rate.
4. Start with a home evaluation. Ask about a cash offer if the 79-day cabin clock is the problem.

Call Kings of Real Estate at 865-365-2280. Knoxville office: 121 Suburban Road, Suite 101. Licensed agents: $250/mo desk fee.

What's happening in the Smoky Mountains this week

• Pigeon Forge certified tax rate — final reading already taken (Mountain Press July 28 clip); first reading July 14
• Pigeon Forge City Commission — 2nd and 4th Mondays, 5:30 p.m. · City Council Room; next regular slot is the second Monday in September
• Sevierville Historic Zoning Commission — Wed., Aug. 26, 3:30 p.m. · Civic Center, 130 Gary Wade Boulevard
• Archery antlered-only private-lands deer hunt — Aug. 28–30 (TWRA dates as printed in The Mountain Press)

Sources: The Mountain Press, July 14, 2026 (Jeff Farrell; first reading, $0.1041, $0.1652, 63 percent, $1.76 billion / $1.1 billion, Clabo); The Mountain Press, July 28, 2026 (final reading of the same rate; Westside Connector is a separate live URL); The Mountain Press budget-workshop file (Wear, certified-rate intent, general-fund dollars); Great Smoky Mountains MLS 12 months ending July 22, 2026 as published on news.kingsofrealestate.com; Freddie Mac PMMS, Aug. 20, 2026.

Get a home evaluation →
Ask about a cash offer →

*Tracy and seller must agree upon price and possession date. Kings of Real Estate, LLC DBA "Your Home Sold Guaranteed Realty"

Source links

• The Mountain Press — Pigeon Forge sets new certified tax rate, July 14, 2026 (updated Aug. 21)
• The Mountain Press — Pigeon Forge approves more work on connector (final tax-rate reading), July 28, 2026
• The Mountain Press — Pigeon Forge budget features stable taxes (Wear on certified-rate intent)
• Pigeon Forge Westside Connector desk — Great Smoky Mountains MLS 12 months ending July 22, 2026
• City of Pigeon Forge — City Commission meeting schedule
• Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, week of Aug. 20, 2026

More from Kings of Real Estate

Related local news:

• Pigeon Forge Westside Connector $5.8 million contract
• Gatlinburg property tax rate after reappraisal
• How to Sell Your Home in Pigeon Forge TN 2026
• Pigeon Forge C-PACER resolution

Start here: Meet our agents · Your Home Sold Guaranteed · Free home valuation · Cash offer · Join our team

Insurance partner: All Seasons Insurance Group (blog)