Recently a man called Pete Rodda, Forsyth County's tax assessor, and asked when the county was going to drop his property values because everyone knows that property values in Forsyth County are down 20 percent.
"I told him that first off, I don't know that his value has dropped 20 percent," Rodda said. "You can't go by all the reports that are coming from the media when those reports are based on data in the top 50 markets."
As tax-revaluation season approaches, Rodda said, many people are nervous because of the real-estate meltdown in other cities. But they shouldn't necessarily worry that prices will drop drastically here.
"Don't be swayed by what's happening in San Diego, California," Rodda said.
Last night the Forsyth County board of commissioners held a public hearing on the schedule of values, standards and rules for the 2009 county real-estate reappraisal. That schedule is used to perform property-tax revaluation.
Nobody spoke at the hearing, which is typical, Rodda said. Until people get their property-revaluation notices around the beginning of December, people rarely complain about values.
The new values will go into place Jan. 1, but people won't see the effect until next year's tax bills come out in August.
Counties in North Carolina have to revalue property at least every eight years, but can choose to do so more frequently. In Forsyth County, revaluation is done every four years to avoid the extreme swings in value that can come from longer periods.
Every county has to reappraise such real property as homes, businesses and vacant land to determine its value, Rodda said. Tax appraisers track how much property is selling for and do field reviews to see whether there are any significant changes to property since the last revaluation in 2005.
Appraisers in Forsyth County have spent more than a year doing this work, he said.
Real property is taxed based on its value and the property-tax rate, which is imposed by elected county and city officials.
Currently the tax rate is 69.6 cents for every $100 of assessed value. That means someone who owns a $100,000 house pays $696 in county taxes.
Some values could definitely go up, based on what's happened in some of the city's neighborhoods since 2005, Rodda said.
"We're probably not going to see a whole lot of double-digit increases," he said.
County manager Dudley Watts said that he makes it a point to ask people in the real-estate and construction businesses how things are going.
"Anecdotally, people have said things have slowed, but it's not like it's come to a halt," he said.
The property-tax revaluation notices will include an informal appeal form that can be sent to the Forsyth County Tax Department. Rodda said he expects 7,000 to 8,000 people to file such appeals. The majority of those appeals are settled with the tax department, but residents can appeal to the Forsyth County Board of Equalization and Review if they are not satisfied.
A small number of people might carry their appeals further, to the N.C. Property Tax Commission and then on to the N.C. Court of Appeals and the N.C. Supreme Court, Rodda said. That would be rare.
The commissioners will vote on adopting the schedule at their Sept. 22 meeting.
County residents have until Oct. 23 to appeal the schedule, which can be viewed at the county tax department at the Forsyth County Government Center on Chestnut Street.
■ Mary Giunca can be reached at 727-4089 or at mgiunca@wsjournal.com.
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