Trustee's Office

Priscilla Tillman Deputy Clerk	Nancy Fishburn Deputy Clerk
Kim Hix Deputy Clerk

The Macon County Trustee’s Office is like the County’s banker. The Trustee is responsible for collecting money. The Trustee is also responsible for investing the County’s money until the money is used.

The Trustee collects money from:

The State of Tennessee.

The Federal Government.

Register of Deeds.

County Mayor.

Circuit Court Clerk.

County Clerk.

Highway Department.

Superintendent of Schools.

County Probation Program.

Any other revenue that comes to Macon County.

Each year all counties in Tennessee are audited by the State of Tennessee to insure their books are accurate and all money is properly accounted for.

The Trustee is elected in the general elections in August every four years.  The next election will be in 2010.  In addition to the elected Trustee, Macon County also has two full-time deputies and one part-time.

History

The Trustee's Office was formed shortly after Macon County was established in 1842. Macon County came from parts of Smith County in Tennessee, Trousdale County in Tennessee and Allen County in Kentucky. The first elected Trustee was Daniel Parsley.

Collecting property taxes and investing the County’s money have always been the duties of the Trustee. However, over the years there have been some unusual taxes collected. From the late 1800s to the late 1920s, for example, the Trustee was responsible for collecting a dog tax. It is unclear what all of that money went for, but a good portion of it was paid to reimburse farmers whose sheep and goats were killed by wild dogs!

It is also interesting to note that, in the early days, there were not any road taxes charged to property owners. Instead, they would donate their time, wagons and teams and just do the road work themselves in the part of the County where they lived.