Commissioners' association wary of broad changes to property tax law

Statewide, property taxes make up 61% of county general fund revenue. In Johnston's most recent budget year, property taxes made up about 52% of government revenue.

 

State lawmakers might place curbs on the property tax, the chief levy that counties and towns use to finance their operations.

But the N.C. Association of County Commissioners argues that blanket changes would be poor policy because no two N.C. counties are alike.

Joy Hicks, the association’s director of advocacy and policy, points to Hyde and Dare, neighboring counties near North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

At 92 cents per $100 valuation, Hyde has one of the highest property-tax levies among the state’s 100 counties. At 26.32 cents, Dare has one of the lowest. And yet the tax burden per person is high in both counties.

Hicks posed a question for state lawmakers: “How do you think about tax policy that would not have unintended consequences and really throw off any county’s budget?” she asked.

Property taxes make up most of a county’s revenue, but not as much as some might think, Hicks said. “We surveyed about 70 counties, and it’s approximately 61% across the counties,” she said.

And much county spending is mandatory, Hicks noted, referring to education, public safety, and health and human services. “You are required to provide certain services for your populace,” she said.

If state lawmakers capped or reduced property taxes, people could literally suffer, Hicks said. “It would potentially cut your sheriff, your response times for your EMS, reduce your public health capacity, result in longer wait times for social services,” she said.

Any cap or reduction in property taxes could also force counties to defer capital projects, including new and renovated school buildings, Hicks said. “And so again, just reminding folks, we do a lot of good things,” she said.

Hicks noted, too, that county commissioners are mindful of the taxes people pay. “In the last three years, it just so happened that 71 of our counties had property revaluations,” she noted. “And in that time period, all 71 of you reduced your property tax rate. That’s great.”

Counties can’t control the market forces driving up property values in North Carolina, but they can — and do — respond to higher property values with tax-rate cuts, Hicks said. “That is important because some of our legislators have indicated they were concerned about runaway property tax rates and bills,” she said.

“We’ve been taking extra time to say a lot of this is market-driven,” Hicks added. “It’s housing supply and demand, and then that rate is applied. But the county commissioners, in their budget process, are being thoughtful with those rate settings.”

And it’s not as if counties are operating behind closed doors, Hicks said. “We’ve reminded the legislature that there are checks and balances in place,” she said. “You guys are subject to an annual audit. You pass your budget in an open meeting, including publicizing that revenue-neutral rate whenever you are in a reval year. We think those are all strengths of this process.”

Page last updated on:  March 13, 2026