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Haywood reappraisal will bring huge numbers, huge choices

Appraisers are still in the field putting the finishing touches on the upcoming countywide property reappraisal set to take effect Jan. 1, 2025, but Haywood County commissioners are already battling misinformation about why it’s happening and what effect it could have on next year’s property tax bills.

As with most local governments, property tax revenue is Haywood County’s largest single income stream, this year accounting for 53% of the county’s $106 million general fund.

State law requires a property reappraisal at least once every eight years. Haywood County currently operates on a four-year reappraisal cycle, because it’s a more timely and accurate reflection of the true market value of the $10.2 billion of taxable property within the county. State law also requires Haywood County to conduct a reappraisal this year due to soaring real estate prices in a fast-moving market.

“We’re a subdivision of the state, the county is, so we don’t do anything that’s not in the General Assembly’s General Statutes,” said Haywood County Commission Chairman Kevin Ensley after a June 17 presentation by Tax Assessor Judy Hickman. “That’s what we’re having to do now.”

Each quarter, the county must file with the North Carolina Department of Revenue a sales ratio report that reflects the sale prices of real property since the last reappraisal, which in this case took effect in January 2021.

For example, if a home was appraised at $250,000 in 2021 but sold later that year for $500,000, the new homeowner would not be paying their fair share of property taxes until 2025, when the reappraisal process revalues the property closer to its true market value of $500,000.

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In essence, the threshold also reflects how much of the true market value of all real property the county taxes. On the day the previous revaluation took effect, the sales ratio was at 100% because all properties were being taxed at 100% of their true market value as of that day. But as soon as one property sells for more than its county-appraised value, that ratio starts to go down.

The DOR says that any time a county drops below an 85% sales ratio threshold, meaning the true market value of all taxable property is at least 15% higher than county appraisal figures show, it must begin to conduct another revaluation.

In 2022, Haywood County’s sales ratio was 72%. In 2023, it dropped further to 63%, according to Hickman’s presentation.

That sales ratio suggests that the current assessed values are only capturing 63% of the true market value of all taxable property, which translates to an expected 37% hike, on average, in property values countywide once the revaluation is complete.

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Most of the region’s local governments have already passed their 2024-25 budgets — most of them without a tax increase, despite inflationary pressures and lingering supply chain issues that arose during the Coronavirus Pandemic. In North Carolina, fiscal year budgets run from July 1 to June 30.

Not all taxable property in the county will see a market valuation increase of that scale.

Differences in individual parcels of property — location, size, quality — play the biggest role, along with statistics showing the sales price of comparable properties. Ultimately, market value is determined not by the tax assessor or county commissioners but instead by arm’s-length transactions facilitated mostly by real estate agents between willing buyers and sellers. Some properties will see little or no increase in market value. Others, in theory, may actually lose market value.

Commissioner Jennifer Best told Hickman that it was important for people to hear that the 37% increase in market value is not “across the board.”

But examples provided by Hickman during her presentation do show some massive increases in recent sales prices of individual homes all over the county — including one luxury Waynesville home recently sold for $976,000 but taxed at $413,400 — that lend credence to the escalating values.

Further proof of the county’s market value growth can be found in the monthly email updates from Canopy MLS, the property listing service used by realtors in Haywood County.

In December 2020, before the last reappraisal took effect, the median sales price of a home in Haywood County was $263,500, the average sales price was $329,959 and the average list price was $331,717.

In April 2024, the last month for which real estate data from Canopy was available, the median sales price had grown to $365,000, the average sales price was $413,000 and the average list price was $494,044.

Commissioner Brandon Rogers thanked Hickman for her presentation.

“A lot of misinformation floats around, and for you to come out and share the details and the facts about where we are and how we got there, I think that helps educate everybody that’s involved in this process,” Rogers said after mentioning the calls and emails he’d received about rumors that the expected 37% increase in property tax values automatically means homeowners’ property tax bills will be 37% larger next year.

Commissioner Tommy Long has been getting the same calls and emails.

“As Commissioner Rogers said, we get blamed for a lot of things that’s just not real,” Long said. “Somebody started with one that said that our taxes are going up 37% and that went like wildfire. Somebody was misinformed and spreading misinformation.”

The confusion stems from a lack of awareness as to how property tax bills are calculated. The tax rate, 55 cents per $100, is multiplied by the assessed value of the property to come up with the amount of property tax due each year.

With every new annual budget, local governments raise or lower the tax rate, or leave it the same, but they don’t establish the assessed values — the market does.

If assessed values go up 37% but the tax 55-cent rate stays the same, the tax collector would of course receive 37% more revenue; however, that’s most assuredly not going to happen.

Instead, commissioners will address the one thing they can control — the tax rate. By adjusting the rate downward, the county could raise the same amount of money with a lower tax rate multiplied by the higher assessed values. That new lower tax rate is called a “revenue neutral” tax rate, because it neither increases nor decreases the amount of revenue collected.

“We have the option of going revenue-neutral, which folks will be paying the same amount if we do that,” Rogers said. “A lot of people don’t understand that. They think that because their valuation is going up, their price is going up, they’re going to pay more taxes. That’ll be a decision we make next year and if we decide to go revenue neutral, of course they’ll pay the same.”

It’s not a new scenario for commissioners. During the 2021 revaluation, Hickman told commissioners that she expected a substantial increase in assessed values. When that increase came through at an average of 17%, commissioners cut the tax rate by a nickel, from 58.5 cents to 53.5 cents.

Although the revenue-neutral rate that year was 50.7 cents, commissioners voted 3-2 to adopt the budget at 53.5 cents, due to ongoing spending needs. Current commissioners Rogers and Best voted against that budget. Commissioners Long, Ensley and Kirk Kirkpatrick voted in favor.

The county’s revaluation will also affect property owners who live in municipalities that impose their own additional property taxes, like Canton, Clyde, Maggie Valley and Waynesville, meaning elected officials in those jurisdictions will also have to figure out whether they can afford to go revenue neutral next year or will keep some of the largesse for spending needs.

Waynesville in particular found itself in quite a fight in 2021. The town’s tax rate had been 49.57 cents, but in light of increasing property values, the revenue neutral tax rate became 41.27 cents after the reappraisal. The recommended budget, however, listed 45.45 cents as the preferred tax rate.

Council members Jon Feichter and Chuck Dickson opposed the recommended budget’s proposed tax rate and subsequently voted against the final budget, which ended up with a 43.92-cent rate (see WAYNESVILLE).

The Town of Canton did the same thing after its 2021 revaluation. Previously, the tax rate had been 58 cents. The revenue-neutral rate was 50 cents. The governing board settled on 54 cents.

Maggie Valley followed suit. In 2021, the town lowered the tax rate from 43 cents to 40 cents, although the revenue-neutral rate was 38 cents.

The new values will take effect on Jan. 1, 2025. Property tax bills will be mailed later that year, around August.

Request a presentation

Haywood County Commission Chairman Kevin Ensley wants the county’s reappraisal process to be as transparent as possible, and wants property owners to be informed as possible. During the June 17 commission meeting, Ensley said he’d be happy to make county staff available to deliver presentations on the reappraisal — what it is, what it does and what to expect — to community groups, neighborhood associations or other gatherings. To request a presentation by county staff, call 828.356.2754 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Learn more

Haywood County’s property reappraisal process is not yet complete; however, property owners with questions about the process are encouraged to contact Haywood County Tax Assessor Judy Hickman’s office during normal business hours with questions, comments or concerns.

Address: 215 N. Main St., Suite 220, Waynesville

Phone: 828.356.2754

Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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