We know some property parcels were over-valued. Will our commissioners insure that others were not? | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's note: This post appears courtesy of the Beaufort Observer.

    Based on appeals from several property owners the 2018 tax valuation may have over-valued many properties in the county. If these cases are an accurate sample of the total, the valuations of undeveloped lots and many commercial properties were assessed too high. You might need to check your property values against comparable properties.

    Several property owners showed up at the Board of Equalization meetings complaining actual sales of comparable parcels within the past few years were about one half of what the tax assessor claims the value to be. For example, undeveloped lots in Cypress Landing have been selling for somewhere between twenty thousand and forty-five thousand dollars. Beaufort County claims these lots are worth from more than forty to seventy thousand dollars. State law requires that real property be valued based on recent actual sales prices.

    Some owners of commercial properties, such as free-standing retail drug stores and other free standing retail stores complained about high valuations and a lack of continuity in value when compared to other similar properties.

    Beaufort County is on an 8 year tax revaluation cycle. This is, as long as the general statutes will allow a county to go without revaluing property. The purpose of revaluation is to make sure all properties are fairly valued at the current market values each eight years. If a property owner believes their property of over-valued they can appeal that valuation. Many do not. The just accept what they are told the value is. That may not be a good idea.

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    Our last revaluation was 2010. That revaluation was just as distorted as the 2018 revaluation is appearing to be. In 2010, we were coming off the peak of the real estate boom. Waterfront lots were king. But as we all know, the bottom then fell out. Some lots that sold for 200,000 dollars during the boom suddenly sold for 30,000 dollars or less in 2011 and following. Stan Deatherage and I tried to get county commissioners to do an early revaluation, for fairness to all taxpayers. Five of the commissioners refused.

    The law does not require the county to wait eight years to do a re-valuation. It just cannot go longer than that. But if there is sufficient evidence that property if mis-valued the commissioners may order a revaluation sooner than eight years. That should have been done when the real estate bust hit.

    Revaluations cost about one million dollars to do. That is why Beaufort County elected to do the eight year revaluations. However, that is no excuse to abuse property owners with unfair taxes.

    Errors in any revaluation system can easily be fixed during the first year. They become extremely difficult to fix when they have to be corrected during any other year. That is because property owners expect credit or changes to values all the way back to the first year of the revaluation. It is just common sense for errors to be corrected immediately.

    Mecklenburg County had this same kind of problem about eight years ago. Property owners sued the county and a judge ordered a partial revaluation. When it is done this way, it becomes very expensive for all the tax payers of the county.

    I will make a motion at the July Board of Commissioners meeting to re-examine all undeveloped lots and commercial properties. The motion is based on a simple premise: If we already know, based on the appeals, that a significant number of undeveloped and commercial properties were incorrectly valued, then it is fair to assume others were also. It will be interesting to see which commissioners are willing to do the right thing and which will not do the right thing. This is the same board that would not direct the Sheriff to stop giving free use of County property to his employees as a part of the 2018-19 budget ordinance. Those who do not know when strong arm robbery and fraud are happening will probably vote against fairness in property values. We'll see.

    There is an apparent advantage in steering the most recent tax valuation to close to the old valuation. It saves a whole lot of explaining. Because the most recent valuation is a little less than the old valuation, most people are happy. We had fewer people to file complaints with the Board of Equalization and Review than during the past five or six years. The reason is they got a lower tax value so they think they are going to pay less in taxes this year. This will happen to a very few of them. Most will pay more. Fair tax values are determined based on how one property is valued in relation to others, not whether the value of a single parcel (your's) went up or down.

    In adopting the recent budget for 2019, the Commissioners made a three cent revenue neutral adjustment in order to collect the same amount of money they did last year. Then they increased taxes another 3.5 cents. The average tax payer will see what will look like an eleven percent tax increase.

    In my opinion the average property in Beaufort County is worth at least ten percent less than it was eight years ago. If that were the case the revenue neutral number would be 5.5 cents with a 3.5 cent increase. Then it looks like our individual tax bill would be increased 9 cents, or 16 percent. It is easier to explain the smaller apparent tax increases than the big ones. Especially with Frankie Waters running for re-election this fall.

    Property taxation is often very unfair and unjust. Commissioners and management have a duty to do everything they can to make it fair and just. Above all, it should be transparent and never done for political expediency. Therefore, I will also be making a motion to contract with an outside party to do a sample revaluation of all parcels in the county. The purpose is to ascertain whether there are other errors and to what extent. If there are enough errors we should have another revaluation done before waiting eight years like they did last time. The best way to know if the current values are accurate is to collect accurate data with which to make that decision. We owe that much to the taxpayers of Beaufort County.