Property owners in Vance County have been waiting – and waiting – for those tax revaluation notices to hit their mailboxes, but so far, it’s just bills, junk mail and candidates’ postcards.
At their board meeting on Mar. 4, commissioners were told that the notices would be sent out “in the next few weeks.”
In a followup conversation with Vance County Manager C. Renee Perry earlier Monday, Perry reported that Tax Administrator Porcha Brooks said the notices will go out by the end of this week.
County residents have been bracing for news of what most certainly will be an increase in the value of their property – it’s been eight years since the last revaluation, after all. Expected increases in Vance County range from 67 percent to 72 percent, with a base increase of 55 percent. And that doesn’t include the actual land values, said Ryan Vincent, who updated commissioners during last week’s meeting.
Most all of the county’s property owners will see an increase in their property revaluation – 93 percent, in fact. And it all will be revealed in those notices, which were originally supposed to be received in February.
In addition to indiviudals and businesses, however, county staff and elected officials also need that information to inform their budget process, which is usually approved before the new fiscal year begins July 1.
Once property owners get their new valuations, they have time to appeal if they don’t agree, said Ryan Vincent, whose company was in charge of this revaluation process, which began a couple of years ago.
“The plan is to mail notices in the next two to three weeks,” Vincent explained to commissioners on Mar. 4. The notices are NOT bills; tax bills would be sent in summer 2024.
Vincent said the deadline to appeal is May 6; after that, the county’s Equalization and Review Board would begin the process of deliberating the appeals.
Right now, the seven county commissioners serve as the E&R board; Commissioner Tommy Hester’s motion on Mar. 4 to form a separate board failed.
The 2016 revaluation saw 640 property owners appeal the tax value of their properties. Of those, all but 11 were settled during the informal appeals process and were settled within the tax department. Those 11 came before the board of commissioners, acting as the E&R board, for a decision.
This year’s revaluation most likely will bring a higher volume of appeals, simply because it’s been eight years since the last valuation, when some property owners even saw a decrease in their property’s assessed value.
Vincent said commissioners should plan to allow for “anywhere from 10 to 20 to maybe 30 working days to hear the appeals,” with those being full days – 6-8 hours each. “It’s a substantial time commitment,” he said, and something that likely couldn’t be done during regular evening meetings of the commissioners.
That’s on top of extra budget sessions that will undoubtedly be held over the next few months.
The E&R board must have a quorum – that’s four commissioners – to hold the hearings.
Perry stated “it’s definitely a tight timeline” but that “the plan is for the Board of E&R to open on May 6 and close on June 3. Appeals can be submitted as soon as notices are received. The last day to appeal will be June 3.” Vincent had noted to commissioners on Mar. 4 that the appeals window would be from April 1 to May 6, but Perry confirmed Monday that those dates had been adjusted since the commissioners’ meeting.
The City of Henderson also is dependent on the results of this revaluation process as it plans for the new budget, and City Manager Terrell Blackmon said he and his staff asked for – and received – the information from the county as soon as it was available.
In a written statement to WIZS News, Blackmon said, “Just for reference, the City is not just now looking at the schedule of values…and we have been using the data we have to begin working through the FY 24-25 budget process. The City’s Finance staff and I have already completed our preliminary budget meetings with all department heads and we are crunching numbers as we speak trying to balance expenses with projected revenues based on our current tax rate and other various scenarios tied to the new schedule of values resulting from the revaluation process. Staff and Council are aware of the potential burden taxpayers may experience when there is a revaluation and we will try to remain revenue neutral as a goal. However, we also have to keep in mind that the City’s tax base has remained fairly unchanged the past several years… but our expenses continue to increase due to employee retention and other inflationary factors that impact our service delivery and ability to improve the City’s infrastructure. We will work to find a balance that’s beneficial to both the City and our citizens.”
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