06/01/2026
First of all, I will repeat that I am not a fan of property taxes. I have to pay them just like everyone else and I don't like it. That's why I fought to get the rate down to 52 cents from 67 cents last year. But unfortunately that still meant a tax increase for most, but not all. Approximately 10% of property owners saw their taxes go down last year. How is that? Read on...The state requires every county to do a reevaluation at least every 8 years (ours was 6). The state law requires the county tax office to do a mass appraisal of 120,000 properties to assign a fair market value. The market value of most every property in our county increased a lot between 2018 and 2024. To be fair to the tax office, they didn't cause the value of homes to go up...it was the market. It was people paying $300,000 for a home that was $150,000 a few years prior. Before the reval, the entire county property value added all together was $25 billion. Afterwards, it was $38 billion. We were handed that info and then given the task of assigning a tax rate to fund the government. If someone's property doubled or tripled in value, there is no possible way to assign a rate that will affect that person the same way that it affects someone whose value went up by only 25%. Some have said that we more than doubled property taxes. While I know that was true for some, for others they went down and for others they may have stayed the same or went up a little. The actual math is this: the previous year at 67 cents brought in $171 million. Accounting for an average growth of 6%, that same 67 cents would have brought in $181 million without reval. This year's budget included millions of new debt service from voter approved bonds plus there were hundreds of millions of properties still under appeal. We landed at 52 cents which was predicted to bring in $214 million which is an 18% increase...not doubled. But I get it...if yours doubled, none of this really matters and you have a right to be upset. Mine went up a lot too and it certainly didn't make me happy. I have heard suggestions that the tax value be what the owner paid and it can never go up...not a terrible idea but also not allowed by the state. The revaluations are mandatory under state law, not county. By my math a 4-5 cents sales tax could potentially replace and eliminate property tax in Johnston County and I would be good with that. There's only one problem...It is not allowed by the NC General Assembly and would be illegal so that's not an option. Another idea I've heard is that we should eliminate property tax for veterans or people over 65...sounds good but also illegal for counties to do that. The state mandates that each county provide school buildings, a sheriff's office, courtrooms, DSS, etc. and they mandate that a property tax be administered to help pay for these things. I say all this to let everyone know that I, along with the other 6 commissioners, take this upcoming budget process very seriously and know that we are assigning a property tax rate that affects every man, woman and child in our county and we have to do it while following the laws set forth by the General Assembly. It's not an easy task and its never going to make everyone happy, but I will promise to fight for the lowest rate that can still fund our schools, make sure someone qualified comes when you dial 911 as well as provided all the other required services and provide our citizens with the best customer service possible.
