By By BETTY MITCHELL GRAY
Staff Writer
There’s good news and bad news for Beaufort County taxpayers from the property revaluation now under way.
Those who own cars, boats and a lot of heavy equipment will likely see their tax bills for 2010 decline.
Those who own real estate — homes and land — will likely see their tax bills go up.
That’s the result of what County Manager Paul Spruill calls a “hidden shift” in the tax burden that happens every eight years as the listed value of real estate is brought back in line with the listed value of other property such as cars and heavy equipment.
Because motor vehicles and equipment are taxed each year at 100 percent of their values and real property is taxed at 100 percent of its value only the first year after revaluation, owners of “other property” have carried more of a tax burden than owners of “real property” during the past seven years, Spruill said Tuesday night during a meeting of county, municipal and other civic leaders.
That will change with the 2010 revaluation, he said, when a shift in the tax burden will take place.
Therefore, owners of homes and land — known as “real property” — in Beaufort County will see an increase in their tax burden in 2011 while owners of motor vehicles and equipment — known as “other property” — will see their tax burden fall next year, Spruill said.
The average tax bill for owners of homes and land is expected to rise from 10 percent to 12 percent while the bill for owners of “other property” is expected to fall by 16 percent to 18 percent.
The average tax increase is only important for the local news media, Spruill said.
“The average tax increase for homeowners will be meaningless to individuals because we each find ourselves in very different circumstances,” he said. “Some of us are going to love it. Some of us are going to hate it. It all depends on how bad your property value lags the market.”
One of the biggest winners is likely to be PotashCorp Aurora, which has a lot of manufacturing and land-moving equipment and is one of the largest owners of so-called “other property” in Beaufort County.
Spruill’s comments came during a question-and-answer session — held at the county’s administrative offices — that was part of a “final push to educate the public” about the property-tax revaluation that is now drawing to a close in Beaufort County.
The session will be broadcast to the public on the local cable channels in Washington, Bath and Belhaven during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
Before the 2010 revaluation, Beaufort County’s tax base totaled $4.2 billion, including $2.7 billion in real property and $1.5 billion in other property. The tax value before revaluation was $24 million, with real property accounting for $15.4 million, or 64 percent of tax revenue, and other property, $8.6 million, or 36 percent of tax revenue.
After the 2010 revaluation, Spruill estimates the county’s tax base will be about $5.1 billion, including $3.64 billion in real property and $1.5 billion in other property. While the value of other property will remain the same, the value of real property will increase about 35 percent, he estimates.
The result will be a shift in the tax burden — with owners of real property paying about 71 percent of the tax burden and owners of other property paying about 29 percent of the tax burden. And while real-property owners will see about a 10 percent increase in taxes paid, owners of other property will see an 18 percent drop in their taxes, Spruill said.
State law requires that property be appraised for taxation at 100 percent of its fair market value at least once every eight years. The revaluation of property currently under way will ensure that all property values match their current market values and that every property owner is taxed fairly, Spruill said.
Beaufort County’s revaluation comes during an economic downturn.
But despite that fact, most homes and land in Beaufort County will increase in value over that recorded in 2002 when property was last revalued, according to county tax officials.
County taxpayers will receive their new valuation forms — known as real estate assessed value for 2010 — in early to mid-February 2010, but they won’t know what the new tax rate will be until June.
The good news for Beaufort County property owners is that, although their property values will increase, their property-tax rate — now at 60 cents per $100 of property value — will likely fall, which is in line with the county’s pledge to keep the tax rate revenue neutral after revaluation.
With a similar goal of a “revenue neutral” tax structure,” Hyde County’s tax rate fell by 11.5 cents per $100 of value following that county’s revaluation as a result of the dramatic increase in property values. Lenoir County’s tax rate fell 4 cents per $100 of value following its revaluation.
The new tax rate will depend on several factors — the growth in the county’s tax base on existing property as a result of revaluation, growth in the tax base as a result of new construction and new equipment purchases and losses in the tax base as a result of taxpayers who believe their new tax value is too high, Spruill said.