The Senate Finance Committee gave its stamp of approval Wednesday to legislation backed by Senate leader Phil Berger that would pause property reappraisals from taking effect in a dozen North Carolina counties this year.
Berger, R-Rockingham, represents a large swath of the non-urban parts of Guilford County. That's one of the 12 with newly reappraised property values.
"They'll go back to the old numbers and do their budgets using the old numbers to give us the time to look at the problem," Berger told reporters last week.
Complicating the matter is local governments' ongoing budget process. Counties and municipalities must pass their budgets by the beginning of June, including proposing the budget and holding public hearings.
Establishing new property tax values is a key step in determining a property tax rate and is heavily influenced by the value of the tax base.
"Of the property tax reform options currently being discussed, pressing pause may be the most responsible path. Doing so would create time to develop a more effective solution — one that truly helps people struggling to pay their property taxes without damaging the systems that allow government to function," N.C. Association of County Commissioners' Executive Director Kevin Leonard wrote in a statement.
The 12 counties with reappraisals set to go into effect this year are: Anson, Bladen, Buncombe, Chowan, Clay, Davidson, Guilford, Harnett, Onslow, Pamlico, Pender and Scotland.
Senators' stance
Sen. Steve Jarvis introduced Senate Bill 889 in the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday. Jarvis, R-Davidson, said his home county's reappraisal found that property values have increased by an average of 65%.
"It gives us time and a pause to be able to go into detail and get something done that we need to get done in property tax and not make a hasty decision that we will regret later," Jarvis said.
He added that the dozen counties with reappraisals set to go into effect in 2026 would instead see them become effective in 2027.
"They can still use that reval a year later," Jarvis said.
The counties in question would still be able to adjust their tax rates as necessary during this budget cycle, just using the previous property values.
Sen. Brent Jackson, R-Sampson, is a co-sponsor of the bill. He said that both Bladen and Pender county officials support the proposal to make sure their reappraisals were accurate.
Jackson is also one of 10 Senate Republicans who Berger in February appointed to a working group to consider property tax reform. That group has started meeting, Jackson said, but hasn't come up with many concrete proposals.
"It's not enough time because this is a complicated issue when it comes to the counties, and we don't want to unintentionally do harm when we're trying to help," Jackson said.
House has its own proposal
The N.C. House has been working on its own property tax proposals, including a constitutional amendment voters would consider this fall.
If approved, the General Assembly would be tasked with establishing a levy limit capping by how much local governments could increase the revenue raised from property taxes on a year-to-year basis. A quartet of House Republicans filed a bill — House Bill 1089 — Tuesday that would put the amendment on the ballot.
Speaker of the House Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, said the House is "not necessarily opposed" to the moratorium proposal but indicated that he'd like to see it wrapped into a larger property tax package.
"All these ideas are percolating and bills moving dealing with property tax and I think we need to get a comprehensive solution. That may be one component of it," Hall told reporters Wednesday.
