CARTERET COUNTY, NC – On July 1, 2021, the Carteret County Tax Office will begin the required general revaluation process that includes site visits of all county properties prior to the January 1, 2024 revaluation effective date. Site visits will include all residential, commercial, and industrial properties.
Revaluation, also known as reappraisal, is a process that resets the taxable value of all real property to its current market value. This includes vacant and improved land, whether residential, commercial, agricultural, or industrial. To ensure assessments are accurate, every recorded sale of property in Carteret County is evaluated through a combination of computer-based reviews and field reviews. This ensures the characteristics of each property are accurately reflected in county tax records. As part of this review, all residential and commercial properties have been digitally photographed in high resolution to ensure that all improvements can be compared uniformly. This process also validates property addresses and locations to assist emergency responders.
North Carolina General Statute 105-286 requires all counties to conduct a reappraisal at least once every eight years. Carteret County has a four-year revaluation cycle and the last revaluation was completed in 2020. The goal of revaluation is to help ensure the county’s tax burden is distributed equitably based on current property values. Property taxes are based on property values. Without periodic revaluations, some property owners would pay relatively more while others would pay relatively less.
“An eight-year cycle, for a fast-growing county like Carteret, creates more opportunity for inequities to grow and usually leads to much larger and unpredictable changes to property values,” said Sarah Davis, Tax Administrator for Carteret County. “A shorter cycle reduces the chances of this happening and helps make property taxes more equitable, predictable, and manageable.”
The county-wide revaluation will be conducted by certified real property tax appraisers. All appraisers with the county will be identified by badges, safety vests, and car signs. Appraisers will be verifying the physical characteristics and condition of buildings on the property, as well as any additions or deletions to the property since it was last visited. The field visits will be conducted from the exterior of the property. The appraiser will first attempt to speak with the property owner upon arrival to the property. In the event the property owner is not available, an appraiser will leave a door hanger as a courtesy notice that a member of our real estate team visited their property.
“With over 61,000 parcels of property in the county, the revaluation process takes us a couple of years to complete,” Davis added. “Our real estate team expects the field portion of the project to be completed within the next 18 months.”
As required by North Carolina General Statutes, property owners will receive a change of value notice for the 2024 general revaluation. The county expects to mail the change of value notice in February of 2024.
Frequently asked questions can be answered by going to the Tax Office’s website. For more information concerning revaluation, please call the Tax Office at (252) 728-8485, email at taxinformation@carteretcountync.gov or visit our website at https://carteretcountytax.com/
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