Mecklenburg County completing initial phase of revaluation process

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - If you own property in Mecklenburg County, your tax rate could be changing at the start of next year.

Tax assessors are conducting the regular revaluation of properties. New values will be announced, and notices sent out in January of next year.

Right now, the tax rate stands at .6169 per $100 of value, meaning if you own a $200,000 house, your annual county tax bill is roughly $1,233.

The county does this every four years, switching from doing it every eight years to reduce large market increases.

According to county officials in 2019 at the last revaluation, the median sales price of a residence was $323,105.

It’s now $413,880.

Related: Roof Above apartments have opened for tenants experiencing chronic homelessness

Wesley Heights is a neighborhood that has seen a lot of changes over the years.

It’s right around the corner from WBTV, which is why Dan Crawford and his wife, who works at the station, moved here more than two decades ago.

“Since 1998, so 24, 25 years,” Crawford said.

He’s well aware of the price of progress.

“Certainly nobody likes paying taxes, but nobody likes going to the dentist either,” he said. “If you want nice teeth, if you want nice schools, if you want nice roads, you have to do it.”

Mecklenburg County completed its initial assessment of residential properties across more than 3,100 neighborhoods. They are almost done assessing commercial properties.

Assessor Ken Joyner told Mecklenburg County commissioners they assessed a 48% increase for residential properties and 36% percent increase for commercial properties since 2019.

But assistant tax assessor Brad Fowler says those increases are not final.

“We’re going to see these next six months what are the sales telling us at that point?” Fowler told WBTV. “If we see an uptick or downturn, we want to get that fair and equitable value as of January 1.”

If you’re concerned about new homes affecting taxes in your older neighborhood, he says that’s a big consideration when it comes to assessments.

“We’re running more and more into those transitional areas where there’s a much more precise evaluation that we have to take outside of our normal, homogenous neighborhoods where everything is the same,” he said.

There is also an exemption in place for homeowners who are at least 65 or permanently disabled and making at most $31,900 dollars a year. If they are eligible, they can receive 50% off of their tax bill.

Joyner told commissioners they have already held more than 60 community input meetings.

For details on how to get involved in community input, click here.

Copyright 2022 WBTV. All rights reserved.