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Property tax bills coming soon to a mailbox near you

By Lisa Majors-Duff
No news is good news, right? Jackson County residents have had no news about their property taxes since new value notices were mailed in April. Bills were expected to be sent in August but were delayed for two reasons, said tax assessor Cecil Dills. The delay, he said, resulted from the additional work required for this year's revaluation of property and a computer upgrade.

But the wait is nearly over for most county property owners, he said.

"Part of the bills were sent out on Saturday, the other part today," Dills said Monday.

For more than two years, six tax assessor staffers had been reviewing and updating files on 28,000 parcels, Dills said. Much of the detailed work required for this year's eight-year revaluation cycle will not be needed in four years, when county property taxes are slated to be revalued again, he said.

"Most of the measuring and listing of property will remain the same for the next four years," he said. County governments are required by state statutes to adjust the value of their property at least every eight years. Jackson County recently decided to shorten its revaluation schedule to four years for many reasons, not the least of which is the ability to retain employees and continue to collect accurate values from utility companies.

This year's revaluation showed a 58 percent increase in property values, for a total of nearly $3.3 billion countywide. Based on this information, commissioners set the tax rate at 48 cents per $100 valuation for the 2000-01 fiscal year budget, a decrease of 5 cents.

The new tax rate means that an individual whose property is valued at $100,000 will pay $480 in taxes this year.

Another reason for the delay in issuing this year's bills, Dills said, resulted from an upgrade in the tax assessor's computer hardware. The new system required software adjustments to make it compatible with the new computers and those used by Total Billing, the Charlotte company that prints and mails the county's tax bills.

Bills for about 3,500 of the county's total 28,000 parcels will not be mailed until November at the earliest, Dills said. The values on these parcels have been contested by their owners, with hearings scheduled before the Board of Equalization and Review in the coming weeks.

Though bills indicate payment is due by Sept. 30, county property taxes can be paid until Dec. 31 without interest accruing.

Back to Archive: 09/28/00.