What is revaluation?
Revaluation is the process that matches your tax value with what your property is worth on the market today (the fair market value). It covers all residential and commercial land and structures, like homes, apartments and condos, and office buildings, stores and warehouses. It does not include what is known as “personal property” like cars, boats and airplanes. The values for those are adjusted annually.
Why appraise property?
An appraisal provides a basis for determining a property owner’s share of the taxes that support
schools, roads, parks, public health programs, libraries, and police and fire protection. The
amount of taxes you pay depends on both your property value and the tax rates rates set each
year by elected county and city/town officials.
What’s the benefit?
This readjustment in values makes the County’s tax system more fair and equitable, because the values are based on what the property is worth on the open market. This ensures that all property owners are paying their fair share of taxes.
Why are we doing this?
State law requires revaluations at least once every eight years; the last revaluation in Wake County occurred in 2000.
Why don’t we do this more often?
Commissioners are studying whether to move to a four-year revaluation cycle, as opposed to every eight years. This was a recommendation of the Blue Ribbon Committee on the Future of Wake County. The advantage would be less “sticker shock” regarding property values if they were revalued more frequently, as well as making the county tax system more consistently equitable. However, more frequent appraisals also carry a higher cost for conducting them. Commissioners are weighing the pros and cons and will decide in February 2008 whether to change the current timeframe.