Property-tax receipts are growing more slowly than property values

While Johnston’s tax base has soared because of housing demand and growth, the County’s tax levy has leveled off because of cuts in the tax rate in recent years.

 

While property values in Johnston County have soared in recent years, property-tax collections have not.

That’s one takeaway from a presentation County Commissioners heard during their planning retreat last month.

“Looking at the total property value over the last seven years, it has increased by 77%,” Catherine Moga Bryant of the N.C. Association of County Commissioners told Johnston Commissioners on Feb. 12.

The increase stems partly from property revaluations required by state law. “But it is also new growth,” Moga Byrant said, referring to new homes, businesses and industries in Johnston.

The County isn’t an outlier; across North Carolina, property values have risen steadily, although the rate of growth was once much slower, Moga Bryant said.

Statewide, property values had grown about 5% a year until three years ago. “And then it was 16%, and then it was 11%,” Moga Bryant said.

She pointed to the chief culprit. “Property values have just really increased since the pandemic,” Moga Bryant said. “More people are moving in; people bought second homes during the pandemic.”

More broadly, “our economy is thriving,” she added. “We’re one of the best states to live in. These are all great things for North Carolina, great things for Johnston County, but it does mean that property values have gone up.”

But notably, property-tax collections in Johnston are growing much more slowly than property values, Moga Byrant said, pointing to a chart showing tax levies. “It has gone up,” she said of the annual tax levy, “but you can see it’s been fairly flat those last three years, despite the fact that inflation has continued to go up and there are more mandated services that have to be provided.”

In 2023-24, for example, property values climbed 6% while the county tax levy grew 1%. In 2024-25, values increased 5% while the levy grew 2%.

Moga Bryant attributed the difference between climbing property values and mostly flat tax collections to the tax-rate cuts that Commissioners have routinely made. “The County is being very thoughtful about its tax rates and the amount of money it needs to meet its budget needs,” she said.

Page last updated on:  March 13, 2026