Beaufort County Tax Revaluation | Eastern North Carolina Now

Beaufort County Tax Revaluation

EDITORIAL TEAM

Taxes are a hot item.  All taxes should always be hot items.  Unfortunately, taxpayers always get the cart in front of the horse.  Most people are unconcerned about spending.  They allow the liberals to spend for this little thing and that little thing without moving a muscle.  All those little increases in spending add up to some really big tax bills.  Everyone should oppose every increase in spending.  In today’s world everyone is overtaxed.  

Within county governments revaluations are big events.  That is because of the way North Carolina does revaluations.  The process is different in every state.  Some states use the most recent sale with inflation adjustments in the following years.  A revaluation could be done every year in North Carolina.  However, the way it has to be done is expensive.  In North Carolina all properties are value adjusted (revalued) at the same time using the same system of mass appraisal.  Simply said, mass appraisal uses recent actual sales with a multitude of adjustments to set the value of every real property at the time of valuation or appraisal.  A lot of work goes into this expensive process.  Because the mass appraisal method is so expensive, counties tend to put it off as long as possible.  However, the Legislature mandates that tax appraisal must be done at least one time every eight years.

The purpose of appraisal is fairness; to be sure some taxpayers are not paying more than their fair share.  Putting it another way, to be sure some are not getting a free ride.  When there is a lot of economic activity or inflation real estate values tend to move fast.  This is why some counties revalue on shorter schedules, as short as four years.  Because of rapid fluctuations, mostly upward, in recent years Beaufort County is slowly moving to shorter revaluations.  This is a seven-year revaluation.

Mass appraisals provide the opportunity for there to be significant differences between the appraised value and actual or fair market value.  Because of this, counties notify property owners of the mass appraised value and offer the opportunity for an informal appeal.  Informal appeals provide the property owner and the county tax assessor an opportunity to correct typographic, clerical and comparative errors without a lot of hassle.  We encourage every taxpayer who is of the opinion that his value on any piece of property is wrong to call the Assessor’s office and make an appointment.   

Approaching the informal hearing officer requires some preparation.  Simply telling him he is wrong will accomplish nothing.  Do not expect the informal hearing officer to examine your property valuation searching for an error.  Be prepared to explain exactly why your value needs to be changed.  Things like, the square footage should be this not that, the property needs painting, a new roof, it’s rotting down etc.  Appraisers do not go inside buildings.  Maybe your property looks good on the outside but still has a 1920’s paint job, bathrooms and kitchen.  Use photographs, maps or sketches to prove your point.  The comparable properties that were used to value your property may not be good comparisons.  Ask for a second appointment if you need to gather additional information to prove your point.

Almost everyone was puzzled, surprised or shocked at the new property values.  Values have gone up mostly because of the large amounts of money injected into the economy by the (socialists) Democrats because of the fake Covid scare and the high rates of spending during the Biden Administration fiasco.  

At the end of the day, the amount of money county governments spend determines how much tax has to be collected and what the tax rate will be.  Because most people do not understand government finance many politicians have used revaluations as an opportunity to increase spending.  Many people believe revaluation means an increase in taxes and spending.  However, the Legislature requires all taxing authorities to provide the public with the “revenue neutral” tax rate based on the most recent county revaluation.  This value cannot be calculated until after the value of all property in the county is known.  The appeals process must be complete.  That could be as late as June.

Because some people are using last year’s tax rate ($0.625 per 100 dollars of value) to estimate property taxes and are very upset with the amount they think they owe, we believe there may be comfort in knowing an estimate of what the revenue neutral rate could be.  This is an estimate.  However, based on information provided by the assessor’s office, we believe the tax rate for the 2025 tax year will be in the vicinity of 40 cents.  This is a significant reduction in the rate.

The issue of taxes going up, that is increased spending, is unsettled.  Fake Frankie Waters, Jerry Langley, Ed Booth and Randy Walker have already voted against reducing taxes this year.  The issue is not settled because the new tax rate will be set in June.  If spending is not increased, it will be set at the revenue neutral rate of about 40 cents per 100 dollars of value.  None of this stands in the way of having a tax reduction.

A separate issue from all of the above is the overtaxing of all of Beaufort County during the past ten years.  Proof of overtaxing lays in the bank.  Beaufort County has at a minimum 27 million dollars of surplus or savings.  We had over 37 million before spending 10.5 million to build the unneeded new primary school.  The public should demand a tax reduction.  We have until the budget is finished in June for the gang of four (Fake Frankie Waters, Randy Walker, Ed Booth and Jerry Langley) to vote to reduce taxes.

Taxing more than is needed to run the government is a fraud on the public.  Fake Frankie Waters, Ed Booth, Jerry Langley and Randy Walker use this money to fund their pet projects like the unneeded new school, the county park and to give charity money to their favorite people.  Fake Frankie saw to it that four million dollars of county money was donated to the telephone industry.  Among those receiving the money was the company that acquired Tri County Telephone Company.  Frankie was Chairman of the Board for about 8 years before Tri County had to be sold, they ran out of money) to Yadtel.  

Giving a ten percent tax reduction is about 4 million dollars.  The telephone company is where one of your tax reductions went.  This same kind of waste takes place every year.  That is why you are being overtaxed.