By consensus, Beaufort County Commissioners move toward a new real property revaluation | Eastern North Carolina Now

   The Beaufort County Commissioners, at their January 9th General Meeting, agreed, by consensus, to move forward to effect a new revaluation of real property in an upcoming 4 or 5 year cycle. At the heart of this problem is that the county commissioners must seek to remedy the egregious disparity between the assessed property values of most property in Beaufort County and the real value. Hence, Beaufort County needs a property revaluation as soon as can be arranged.

   To that end, Commissioner Stan Deatherage (me), made this as an agenda item (click here), which was discussed in the 4th hour of that general meeting Monday night. Remarkably, the balance of the seven county commissioners moved forward to resolve this problem that effects every taxpayer that shares the ad valorem burden.

   To bolster his point that action must be taken, Commissioner Deatherage stated:

   "The purpose of a Beaufort County property revaluation, whether on a 4 year or 5 year cycle, is to bring relative property values, then, in line with relative property values now. In other words, to end the overwhelming disparity between all our citizens, who own property, and share the ad valorem tax burden.

   First, I am satisfied that we (Beaufort County) are now getting more comparables of like-kind properties that will be invaluable in this revaluation - the prime directive of which is to bring property values into a more real perspective.

   Second, we will need to budget the cost of the revaluation in this year's budget process.

   Third, To effect a revaluation, on a 4 year cycle, we must complete the revaluation in late 2013. If we schedule a revaluation for a 5 year cycle, we will need to complete the revaluation in late 2014. The purpose to proceed with a 5 year cycle, rather than a 4 year cycle, is to garner a greater array of comparables.

   Regardless of which direction we choose to proceed in, we need to move in that direction now."

   Tax Assessor / Collector Bobby Parker, who was at the general meeting to present an unrelated issue, spoke on Commissioner Deatherage's proposal in terms of cost to the county and the need for a re-valuation sooner rather than later:

   Tax Assessor Parker: "The cost of the last revaluation was about 1,023,000.00, but that was not our only cost."

   Mr. Parker continued: "Currently, our 2010 revaluation assessment is over 100% (the threshold, where a county needs to consider a new revaluation or understand that the last revaluation was a bad representation of future values). If we don't do a new re-valuation, the State of North Carolina may require us to do one anyway within the next two years."

   Commissioner Deatherage's understanding of what should be done, and the confluence of Mr. Parker's knowledge of what Beaufort County may be forced to do, by the State, are at simultaneous purpose, which could be why the rest of the commissioners posted no objections to proceed with this necessary exercise.

   To that end, the Beaufort County Commissoner's chairman, Jerry Langley, followed Commissioner Deatherage's suggestion to put himself, Commissioner Hood Richardson, and Tax Assessor Bobby Parker, while adding Commissioner Robert Cayton, to a committee to navigate the process.

   This process will be complicated by the fact that the Beaufort County Tax Department will probably be getting a software upgrade, and they, along with the Beaufort County Commissioners, are in the process of selecting the proper program and a vendor. While this will take some time to implement and will cost Beaufort County additional funds, the new system will aid in the machinations of the proposed revaluation, and will also save Beaufort County money by increased future efficiencies.