Watch your mail, Wake County: Property assessments coming, tax hikes won't be far behind

Wake County residents should keep an eye on their mailboxes for a notice from The Wake County Department of Tax Administration, which will provide them with a first look at their property's tax value as a result of the 2020 reappraisal that went into effect Jan. 1.

Around 395,000 notices were sent to residential and commercial real estate property owners.

Has the Triangle been booming or are we just hitting our stride?

Tax Administrator Marcus Kinrade said, "Our local market has been extremely active since 2016, and we have ample sales data to substantiate values calculated during this reappraisal process."

Homeowners will soon learn how the county valued their house for tax purposes, but they won't know the full cost until the spring.

Kinrade said, "It's important to note that the reappraisal only focuses on updating assessed values for 2020, not the amount of property tax that will be due. That cannot be precisely calculated until the county's Fiscal Year 2021 budget is adopted in June."

"Revenue-neutral is often a misunderstood term. It applies to county and municipal budgets as a whole, not to individual properties," said Kinrade.

On average, residential property owners might see a 20% increase countywide since the last reappraisal in 2016. This increase in residential value, according to officials, was caused by a high demand and low supply of homes, particularly those valued at less than $250,000.

Counties in North Carolina are only required to conduct a reappraisal once every eight years. In 2016, the Wake County Board of Commissioners voted to shorten Wake County's reappraisal cycle to four years to re-establish property tax equity between properties more frequently.

Has the Triangle been booming or are we just hitting our stride?

Property owners may also submit review requests using the form included with the Notice of Value and mailing it to:

Raleigh, NC 27602

For questions regarding the reappraisal process, contact the Wake County Tax Administration Office by phone at 919-857-3800 or by email at reappraisal@wakegov.com.