Feb. 11. By Dave Vieser. It may not seem possible, but a county-wide property revaluation is already under way.
The last reval was completed in 2018.
County officials say that a property revaluation every four years is fairer to taxpayers than longer periods since it tends to eliminate dramatic increases in values.
Joyner
That’s precisely what happened when the flawed 2011 reval took years to clear up, resulting in an eight-year gap between revaluations.
The current county tax assessor, Ken Joyner, was not working for Mecklenburg County in the run-up to the 2011 reval.
Lots of money is at stake: Cornelius currently has a total tax value of $7.55 billion.
The current reval schedule
The county will look at more than 400,000 properties between now and the end of the year, most of them residential. Eight full-time assessors are working on the reval along with one manager.
“All of the work involved in the reappraisal is being conducted by county staff, with no outside workers involved,” according to county spokesman Alex Burnett.
The new values will be established by Jan. 1, with property owners getting their new tax values that month. Those wishing to appeal can do so before the official tax bills are mailed in July of 2023, payable on or before Sept. 1.
To make sure there is no bias in the county tax value appeals process, Joyner’s office is working with the UNC School of Government to study recent tax appeal data. Special attention will be paid to appeal rates among various demographic groups and the results in those same groups.
Interest begins to accrue if the bills are not paid by the start of January 2024.
With a historic increase in property values during the pandemic, homeowners may be in for some serious sticker shock.
Tax bills now
The town tax rate is .222 per $100 of assessed valuation, which means a $666 levy for a $300,000 home.
The Mecklenburg County tax rate is .6169, which means the county alone collects $1,850.70 on a $300,000 property.
Over the past four years, property values have soared.
Will your taxes go up?
A higher tax value doesn’t necessarily mean a higher tax bill. The tax rates are established by municipalities and the county, as part of the budget adoption process. Once those budgets are adopted and tax rates are set, owners will be able to determine the impact of the new tax values on their property tax payments.
Town is ready
Finance Director Julie Niswonger said the new valuations will impact the town’s FY 2024 budget. Town taxes generally account for only about 30 percent of your property tax bill, with county taxes responsible for 70 percent. School expenses in Mecklenburg County are rolled into the county budget and the county tax rate.
