Mecklenburg County's real property owners face revaluation pursuant to Senate Bill 159

On July 26, 2013, Senate Bill 159 became effective, requiring Mecklenburg County to review the values of all real property in the county. That is good news for everyone in Mecklenburg County suffering from their overvalued revaluations.The Bill is aimed at helping correct the 2011 property tax evaluation in Mecklenburg County and subsequently authorize refunds.

On its August 13 meeting, the Mecklenburg County Commission Board Members approved an implementation plan in accordance with Senate Bill 159. Over $1 Million of funding will be made available for the plan and the measures intended include hiring more staff as well as selecting an outside appraisal  company to conduct the review. According to the plan, a new assessor shall be selected September 3; the appraisal company as early as September 17.  Reviews are scheduled to begin immediately thereafter. Around October to November, assessment notices from the Assessor's office will start being issued to taxpayers  - retroactively for 2011. According to the website of the Mecklenburg Country Government Services, refunds will be issued to any taxpayer whose value is found to be excessive, however, any increase found in value will only affect the current year property tax bills. If this turns out to be true, no effort will be undertaken to collect any additional taxes for prior years in case property was estimated under value.

Following Mecklenburg County's review and recommendations of the property tax values. The county will notify all property owners as to any changes or adjustments in property values and such changes and adjustments to property tax values must comply with all applicable property tax statutes. Upon receiving a correction notice, property owner's will have appeal rights concerning any corrections as a result of the process.

The North Carolina Property Tax Commission will therefore stay hearings of pending Mecklenburg County appeals until Mecklenburg County has reviewed the values notified the property owners of any changes or adjustments. This means putting the appeal on a hold until the county has conducted its review as mandated by Senate Bill 159. However, this does not prevent a taxpayer from having a hearing before the Commission if so desired. The Commission will, however, delay the scheduling of appeals while the county conducts its review.

If the review and recommendations by Mecklenburg County of the property tax values results in a change in value, that is agreeable to the parties regarding the property under appeal to the Commission, the North Carolina Department of Revenue's office is available to assist the parties regarding the settlement of the pending appeal. As such, the parties are not precluded from reaching an agreement as to the value of the property, which would allow taxpayers to resolve their pending appeals without a hearing before the Commission.

If a settlement in value based upon Mecklenburg County's review and recommendations  of the subject property and appeal cannot be reached, the Commission will schedule the appeal for hearing for a determination as to value. This will not necessitate any further action by the property owner until the owner receives the notice of hearing.  The notice will also provide instructions on how to prepare an appeal of hearing.