TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Azya Thornton on Sep 25, 2024

The Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury is investigating an incident at the Knox County Property Assessor’s Office where a newly purchased laptop was reported stolen after the office was ransacked. According to Knox News, the missing laptop may have contained sensitive taxpayer information. The county’s IT department confirmed that the laptop was purchased outside of normal procedures and was not connected to the county’s internal network, which is uncommon practice and forbidden for most county offices. The incident has raised questions about the security and oversight of constitutional offices in Knox County. According to the report, whether the laptop factors into the state investigation remains to be determined, but if it contains taxpayers’ personal information, Knox County Property Assessor Phil Ballard implies it will likely come under scrutiny.