Property values increasing in Jackson
Front Street in Dillsboro. File photo
A state-mandated, county-wide property reappraisal took effect on Jan. 1 this year.
Prior to the appeals process, the reappraisal showing a massive increase in real property taxable value for Jackson.
“North Carolina is in the top 10 most popular states at the moment,” said Tax Collector Tabitha Ashe. “A lot of people want to be in North Carolina and that’s just driving everything up.”
State law requires counties to conduct property reappraisals once every eight years. Jackson County is on a four-year reappraisal cycle to try and allow for smaller, more regular increases to property values, rather than spreading out larger increases over time.
Real property taxable value in the county stood at about $11.45 billion in 2024. As of Jan. 1, that number has increased by almost $7 billion, or 60%, to about $18.4 billion.
“We’re still finalizing values, and we’ve got a lot of data checks to do, but currently we’re projecting the tax base to grow nearly seven billion, over 60%,” said Ashe. “Which is a huge amount. In 2021 it went up 17%, maybe one or two billion.”
Related Items
Upcoming readings at City Lights
HERE of Jackson County requests funding for homeless shelter
Jackson seeks solutions in childcare gap
Gov. Stein promises intensive storm relief measures
Before the last reappraisal, which took effect Jan. 1 of 2025, the median home sale price in Jackson County was $288,997. As of November, it was $423,071, which is a 46% increase overall.
In Sylva, the median home sale price went from $216,842 to $320,196, which is a 48% increase, over the four-year period. In Cashiers, the median sale price went from $760,447 to $1.4 million, increasing by 83%.
In her presentation to the county commission on Jan. 7, Ashe went through several examples of different types of homes that have sold in Jackson for well over their previously assessed value. One mobile home assessed at $29,310 sold last January for $34,000, or 16% more than its assessed value. Another home in Scotts Creek previously assessed at $1,676,670 sold for $4,700,000 in October, a 180% increase from its assessed value.
“The real estate market is constantly changing,” said Ashe. “We’re required to pinpoint Jan. 1 of the reappraisal year … We have to make sure that that value reflects what it would be Jan. 1 of this year. That’s a little bit different than what a lot of people are used to expecting.”
Out of all North Carolina counties, in June, Jackson County had the highest median home listing price at $849,500. Ashe referenced at least five examples of homes for sale in Jackson County that are currently listed over 200% higher than the value they are assessed at, one of which was listed 305% higher than its assessed value.
“There’s a drastic discrepancy between what our assessed values are, what things are selling for and what things are listed for,” said Ashe. “It does not mean they’ll actually sell for that amount but just shows the drastic increase.”
Notices for property reappraisals will not go out until February, after which people will have one month to appeal their home’s assessed value. This could alter the overall county tax base increase, but Ashe says she does “still expect a very large increase overall.”
“There will be a lot of people that are getting a lot of sticker shock, especially people who have not really followed the real estate market, have no desire to sell their property, things like that, it’s going to be very shocking,” said Ashe.
Of course, while the overall tax base increase is currently estimated at 60%, this does not mean that every home in Jackson is increasing in value by 60%. All of the change is based on the sales that occur within the taxing neighborhood a home is in.
“Sales in Cashiers are never used for any other township,” Ashe said. “Sales in High Hampton are never used for any other taxing neighborhood. We always try to make sure that everything is in a very similar area because they follow different market patterns … our county has a lot of variation.”
Different property types, whether it be vacant land, condos, residential dwellings or mobile homes, all change at different rates.
Reappraisal notices will go out to the public Feb. 3. At that point individuals will have a 30-day appeal window ending March 5. This year there will be an online appeal option in addition to the physical form. The tax office will not make any appeal decisions until after the appeal deadline has passed.
“We’re actually taking all of that, looking at each taxing neighborhood, seeing how many appeals we have in each one, using that to make sure there’s not particular things we’re missing,” Ashe said. “Is it one person appealing from the whole neighborhood, the whole neighborhood appealing? That helps us to gauge.”
This also allows the tax office more time to help people through the appeals process while that option is available.
“Our goal is to ensure that all of our property owners feel they are paying their fair share, nothing more, nothing less,” said Ashe. “We want your assessed value to be what you feel like the property could sell for based on the sales information that we have. If you do not agree with it, we recommend that you go ahead and appeal and just let us take another look at it.”
The property reappraisal itself will determine the assessed value of each property in Jackson County. It will be up to commissioners to determine the millage rate in the county as they work through a budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. The tax rate is currently set at $0.38 cents per $100 of assessed property value. In reappraisal years, commissioners can decide whether to set a revenue neutral rate, a lower tax rate that results in the same property tax revenues for the county due to increased property values, or to maintain the same tax rate which results in higher property tax revenues for the county. The commission could also choose to increase the tax rate and even further increase property tax revenues.
In the 2024-2025 budget, property tax revenues accounted for around 48% of the $93.8 million budget.
“People really want to be able to know what that new bill’s going to be and we have no way of really giving them a good estimate until all municipal boards finalize rates and that’s usually way after the appeal period has passed,” said Ashe. “People can’t really appeal the millage rate anyway. They could come do public hearings and comment and things like that, but really our goal is we just want to make sure that the assessed value is correct.”
There are avenues for property tax relief available through state programs, for which people can apply until June 1. Those programs are an option for people who are 65 or older or disabled, full-time North Carolina residents and have a gross spousal household income of $37,900 or less. There is also relief available for veterans with a 100% VA disability rating.
