BRUNSWICK COUNTY — The dust has almost settled after work on Brunswick County’s latest property tax overhaul has ended.
READ MORE: As Brunswick home sale prices skyrocket over three years, 2023 tax revaluation raises concerns
Out of about 156,000 revalued properties, the county received 3,926 appeals after it mailed out new tax value notices early this year. The last hearing from the county board of equalization and review, which handles formal appeals, was Aug. 8.
All that remains are five appeals made directly to the state property tax commission. The commission’s hearings begin next month and stretch through June.
State law requires boards of equalization and review to hear any property owner who wants to appeal. Appellants can present evidence the revaluation was incorrect or new information that could affect the property value and the board has subpoena power to call witnesses and obtain documents. Revaluations are based on recent sale prices.
Brunswick County cut its property tax rate from 48.5 to 34.2 cents per $100 this fiscal year, after the revaluation resulted in property value increases north of 80% in some parts of the county.
Most of the appeals — 2,256 of them — were made informally to the county tax office before the equalization and review board convenes. Informal appeals give residents the chance to have a discussion about the property’s characteristics with county staff. County Tax Administrator Jeff Niebaugh said if the outcome of that appeal was not satisfactory, the owners could schedule an appeal with the review board.
After the equalization and review board convened on April 3, every appeal was required to go through it.
Port City Daily asked the county how many appeals were successful. Niebaugh didn’t answer with an exact number, only “many cases.”
After adjustments are made based on data gathered during an appeal like the interior elements of a property.
When asked how many appeals resulted in adjustments, Niebauer said he did not have the number and would have to review each appeal to find out.
The number of appeals climbed from 3,283 since the previous revaluation in 2019, but the population and property values in Brunswick County have skyrocketed since. In 2019 the population was estimated at 142,800. The 2022 population estimate from the Census Bureau, the latest figure available, estimates the population is now 153,000.
Niebauer said there is “not a single percentage that applies to all residential properties” when asked for an average value increase on residential properties, but in March the county gave Wilmington Business Journal a median increase resulting from the revaluation: 55%
In November, several months before work on the revaluation finished, Niebauer’s office calculated the combined value of real estate in the county increased by 55.15%, with Oak Island, Caswell Beach and Northwest seeing the largest increases, all north of 80%.
At the time Port City Daily reported on concerns from residents there could be massive spikes in property tax value riding on a wave of historic increases.
The tax office has repeatedly told the media the public should not attempt to read into the revaluation because the changes vary by parcel and local governments set the tax rates each year.
For the county’s part, it did shave 14.3 cents off its tax rate this year, but not all municipalities dialed back rates. Some with the most significant increases did. Oak Island, for example, nearly cut its tax rate in half from 2022 to 2023, dropping from 28 to 16 cents. The county’s largest municipality, Leland, only reduced its tax rate by 2 cents.
“Probably the question we get, more than anything, is why do we do revaluation?” Niebauer told the county commissioners during a wrap-up presentation to the Brunswick County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 21.
The answer to his question: State law requires it. In Brunswick’s case the county opts to perform revaluations every four years instead of the maximum eight, but Niebauer pointed out the increases would have forced the county’s hand anyway. If sale values increase or decrease by 15%, counties are required to start a revaluation.
Niebauer told the board this was his third and likely final revaluation with the county. A career taxman, he began working for Brunswick County in 2013 after serving in tax roles in New Hanover and Pitt counties.
During a presentation for commissioners, he pointed out the county’s tax collection efforts have improved since he was hired. In 2013 the county collected just under 95% of its taxes. It was missing $5.5 million in revenue from that tax year and $12.6 million total uncollected from previous years.
Fast forward to today and the county took more than 99% of its anticipated tax revenue this tax year, with only $2.1 million outstanding from previous years.
“You asked me in my interview if I thought I could do better, and I said I did,” Niebauer told commissioners.
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