Letter To The Editor
Of the 12 North Carolina counties that revalued in 2012, 5, including had a NC State "Sales Ratio" as of January 1, 2011 which indicated real estate tax assessments were overvalued. Real estate prices fell in Guilford County during 2011. Rutherford County lost about 12% more than their 2011 Sales Ratio values on 1/1/12, Cabarrus County lost about 5.5% more, New Hanover County lost about 3% more, and Cherokee County's values fell 26%. Guilford was the only North Carolina county in 2012 whose real estate values were supposed to fall by the state's metric that didn't.
Residential homes now valued at $250,000+ increased in value by an average of $9,981.20. Guilford County's 2012-13 proposed budget pre-real estate revaluation included a 9.5 cent tax increase, but instead of falling about or more than 3.72% as the 1/1/11 Sales Ratio and house prices during 2011 suggested, Guilford County's values rose 1.5% and tax rates decreased slightly.
Both Mecklenburg and Guilford Counties used the same revaluation software, and in May, 2012, Mecklenburg moved to "independently" audit their 2011 Real Estate Revaluation after numerous complaints of over valuation. Those I spoke with who sell the software.said tax directors/counties interpretations of the reval law vary widely, and that all counties don't incorporate the same information, meaning results may vary. I implore the News & Record to investigate this information before the Editorial Board publishes endorsements for contested commissioners races.
George Hartzman
Send your letters to the editor concerning Greensboro and Guilford County issues to RecycleBill@gmail.com and I'll post them ASAP.
