JUNE 4, 2009 ISSUE
Watauga Postpones Revaluation to January 2012
County Will Return to Four-Year Cycle After 2012
Acknowledging the slumping real estate market at the local, state and national levels, the Watauga County Board of Commissioners on Monday, June 1, attempted to lessen the effects locally by unanimously adopting a resolution to postpone the scheduled 2010 property tax revaluation until January 1, 2012. The resolution will become official at the state level by the end of the week when the North Carolina Department of Revenue receives and accepts the resolution.
According to Watauga County Tax Administrator Kelvin Byrd, revaluations in North Carolina are statutorily mandated, or required, every eight years, though counties can decide to perform them more frequently. Revaluations are used in determining overall tax value for the county and for determining the property tax rate for the county budget.
The resolution adopted on Monday calls for the revaluation to take place in 2012 and for future scheduled revaluations to occur every four years thereafter. Work on the 2012 revaluation will begin in fall 2010. According to Byrd, it takes approximately 1.5 years for his staff to properly prepare for a revaluation.
In 2002, Byrd explained, Watauga County moved to a four-year cycle to eradicate any “sticker shock” homeowners may have experienced during times of intense growth in the local real estate market. Recently, though, the commissioners discussed whether or not to hold the revaluation in 2010 after speaking with area brokers who claim it has become increasingly difficult to find comparable home prices in certain areas of Watauga County.
“In order to do a revaluation, we have to have sufficient enough sales in each section of the county so current values can be set—not just for the county, but we need them for each area [of the county],” said Deal. “So, we asked Byrd’s opinion to see if we had enough sales to do a fair revaluation.”
Byrd echoed what the commissioners heard from local brokers: recently there have been few property sales and therefore a schedule of values would be difficult to create.
“As it seems at the moment, the revaluation will come in dead even with what was seen in [the revaluation in] 2006,” said Byrd.
“If we don’t feel that we have sufficient sales now then we need to delay,” said Deal.
Avery County Still Undecided
Like Watauga County, Avery County held its last revaluation in 2006, but unlike Watauga, Avery County has not passed resolutions to hold revaluations every four years. Avery County, as mandated by law, holds revaluations once every eight years.
“But we’re always working toward the next revaluation, watching the market. It’s a neverending battle,” said Avery County Tax Assessor Phillip Barrier.
Avery County had preliminary plans to hold a revaluation soon, “but my bosses are going to decide that on a later date,” said Barrier. “We’re currently looking at what is happening out in the marketplace, but we have not advanced the schedule at this point.
Barrier said he is seeing similar effects of the current economic downturn in Avery County as are being seen in Watauga County.
“I have definitely seen the number of transactions slow down,” said Barrier, “but I have not seen the prices come down, unless it’s a foreclosure or fire sale. It is harder to pinpoint value because things have slowed down, though.”
Barrier spoke with area realtors who claim that recently more and more people are coming to Avery County in the hope of finding a real estate bargain. The realtors, Barrier said, have not been able to find falling home prices that would be considered a bargain, which is a positive note for the Avery County real estate market.
Barrier could not provide a time frame for a decision on the next revaluation in Avery County.
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