Yet
there are ample
opportunities to
contest the results
No,
those revaluation letters
received by Johnston
County's property owners
last week aren't "tax
bills." Nor are they
previews of what the
coming year's property-tax
bills actually will be.
That won't be known until
the County Commissioners
and Johnston's municipal
governing boards set their
tax rates in adopting
budgets for Fiscal Year
2025-26. Those decisions
aren't expected before
June. And then those
property-tax bills won't
be due till early next
January.
In the meantime,
Johnstonians have ample
opportunity to contest new
real-estate values
determined by an appraisal
company contracted by the
county.
County Tax
Administrator Jocelyn
Andrews (left)
reported to the County
Commissioners on Monday
that the overall increase
in countywide property
valuations increased by
70.6% over what the last
revaluation produced in
2019. She noted that many
of the highest percentage
increases came in for
properties in less
populated sections of
Johnston where real-estate
transactions more recently
have begun to accelerate.
The County Tax Office
provided the map above
that shows values rising
by 108.39% in Bentonville
Township (the largest jump
among Johnston's 17
townships) yet less than
65% in Cleveland, Clayton,
and Wilders township in
suburban northwestern
Johnston where residential
growth has been booming
for more than three
decades.
"My office did NOT
randomly assign increases
to individual properties
or to the county as a
whole, but rather
reflected the market in
this county," Ms. Andrews
explained before the
commissioners on Monday.
"Properties were compared
to similar properties in
their area to determine
value," she said. "Supply
and demand is what
actually drove up real
property prices."
Ms. Andrews said the
latest revaluation covered
120,692 parcels of
property – an increase of
more than 20,000 since the
2019 revaluation.
She said employees of
Pearson Appaisal "visited
almost every property in
this county, some more
than once." And yet, she
continued, "these people
did not get out and walk
every property because
most folks don't want them
on their property." The
appraisers made their
inspections "from the
right-of-way because we
did not want to trespass,"
Ms. Andrews explained. "If
somebody wants us to se
the inside of their
property, if they want us
to walk around with them,
we will make that happen,"
she promised.
The tax administrator
encouraged anyone who
wants to take issue with
their new valuations to
proceed immediately with
"informal appeals," which
are being accepted now
through February 10. Those
appeals, she said, may be
handled online, by filling
out paperwork either
mailed or hand-delivered
to her office, or through
face-to-face meetings with
Tax Office staff. The
website may be reached
through either jcto.org
or johnstonnc.gov/tax;
the phone number is
919-989-5130.
Ms. Andrews said staff
decisions on informal
appeals could take weeks
to process, but should be
done in time for
unresolved issues to go
before the county's Board
of Equalization and Review
through more formal
proceedings in April.
Several citizens appeared
before commissioners at
both the board's morning
and evening sessions on
Monday furiously objecting
to revaluations of their
particular properties.
Most assumed their annual
tax bills would go up
proportionately.
But that's not known at
this point, emphasized Ms.
Andrews as well as the
commissioners, who noted
that the county's
property-tax rate has been
cut four times – 11 cents
total – since the last
revaluation in response to
expansion of the county's
tax base resulting from
unprecedented residential
and commercial growth.
A number of concerns heard
by commissioners Monday
involved revaluation's
impact on elderly
residents, especially
long-time owners of
farmland. For those folks,
relief is already in
place, Ms. Andrews pointed
out – in the form of the
state's Present Use
Valuation program that
allows active agricultural
properties to be assessed
for taxation well below
commercial market values,
and other allowances that
reduce property-tax
liabilities for low-income
elderly and disabled
residents.
MORE details
about those programs are
on the county's
website>
Wrapping up Monday's
evening session,
Commissioners' Chairman
Butch Lawter made this
closing statement: "I
think you'll see this
board will look to do the
right thing and make it so
there's a minimal increase
on as many people as we
can for their actual tax
bill."
Commissioners
hear harsh words from
enraged taxpayers
Here's
a sample of what taxpayers
angered by their
revaluation notices had to
say to the County
Commissioners during
Monday's sessions:
• "You have broken the
backs of the citizens of
this county.... Shame on
the people who are
responsible for this."
• "We are not Cary; we are
not Raleigh."
• "We're going to look
like New York and
California."
• "You can't convince me
that this is God's
will.... When the next
election comes I'm gonna
do everything I can to
butt every one of you
out."
VIDEOS of
Monday's sessions may be
watched on the county's
YouTube site>
Chief
of Police Pete Hedrick
announced at Tuesday
night's meeting of the
Smithfield Town Council
that all of his
department's officers are
now equipped with body
cameras capable of
recording encounters with
persons facing arrest. The
town was able to purchase
the equipment with a
federal grant of $124,000
for 45 cameras that was
secured for the town last
year by Congressman Wiley
Nickel. Chief Hedrick said
the cameras are also
equipped with phones to
give officers an alternate
means of communication
during incidents away from
their patrol vehicles. (Police
Department photo shows
camera attached to
uniform's chest pocket.)
Town
awards contract to
upgrade West Smithfield
sewerage
Park
Construction of N.C. will
replace 3,600 lineal feet
of a 12-inch sewer main in
West Smithfield with a
24-inch pipeline. The
company, based in
Morrisville, was the
lowest of five bidders
with a price of $3,669,462
to do the work. Total cost
of the project including
engineering and other
services is $4,316,662, of
which $2.7 million is
covered by a grant from
the U.S. Department of
Commerce. The Town of
Smithfield will provide
the balance of the
funding. Utilities
Director said $300,000 of
the project's cost is
budgeted for contingencies
and will likely not be
spent.
Contract
addresses drainage issue
on North Fourth Street
A
second infrastructure
contract approved by the
Town Council at Tuesday's
meeting will replace a
15-inch, 510-foot drainage
line below the
intersection of North
Fourth and Caswell streets
with 24-inch piping.
Stuckey's Backhoe Services
of Rains Crossroads was
the lowest of three
bidders on the project at
$93,500. Public Works
Director Lawrence Davis
said construction should
be finished by spring and
should put an end to
storm-water flooding that
has reached First
Missionary Baptist Church
and adjacent residences in
the past.
Downtown
Development Board
receives a new member
The
council appointed Clyenzer
Taylor, who operates a
marketing firm named
Boutique Social, to the
Board of Directors of the
Downtown Smithfield
Development Corporation,
which oversees activities
funded in part by a
supplemental property-tax
levy within a designated
"service district" in the
heart of town. The
complete list of board
members is posted on the DSDC
website>
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION>
JCC
breaks yet another
student-enrollment
record
From Johnston Community College
Johnston
Community College (JCC)
has reached another
enrollment milestone,
achieving its highest-ever
enrollment for a spring
semester. On day one of
classes for the spring
semester, the college had
5,246 degree-seeking
students enrolled. That is
a 10% increase over last
spring, marking the
college’s fourth
consecutive semester of
double-digit percentage
increases in enrollment.
"This
continued growth
underscores the appeal of
our programs, the value of
our education, and the
trust that students and
their families place in
us” said JCC President
Vern Lindquist (right).
In its ongoing commitment
to student success and
community impact, JCC has
entered into several
strategic partnerships to
bolster enrollment and
retention. The college has
engaged in targeted
outreach programs and
implemented innovative
technologies to drive
student success and
support, all while being
supported by the Johnston
County Commissioners’
Promise, a last-dollar
funding initiative for
recent Johnston
high-school graduates.
“As we expand our reach
and enhance our offerings,
we are not just
transforming individual
lives; we’re changing the
trajectories of entire
families and communities,”
Dr. Lindquist said. “This
is the core mission of a
community college, and
it’s a mission we are
proud to bring to life
every single day.”
To learn more about what
JCC has to offer,
visit www.johnstoncc.edu>
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION>
November's unemployment rate went up to 3.3%
Johnston
County's jobless rate rose
from 3.1% in October to
3.3% in November as the
number of employed
Johnstonians declined from
108,615 to 107,830. At the
same time, the number
filing for unemployment
benefits rose from 3,424
to 3,642. North Carolina's
jobless rate rose from
3.6% in October to 3.7% in
November while the
national rate rose from
4.1% to 4.2%.
County-by-county monthly
employment data comes from
the N.C. Department of
Commerce>
Retail sales
were up 6% in year's
3rd quarter
The
N.C. Department of
Revenue, in its latest
report, shows Johnston
County retail sales
totaled $828,218,793
during July, August, and
September – up more than
$47 million from
$781,069,934 recorded
during the third quarter
of 2023. The state's
reports are compiled
monthly and posted
online, going back to
the year 2000>
WHAT'S COMING
UP
Downtown
Development hosting open
forum at 5:30 today
The
following announcement was
posted on social media
earlier this week: "Join Historic Downtown Smithfield, NC for a community discussion with the DSDC Board of Directors. This open forum is your chance to share your ideas, discuss what you’d like to see in downtown, and help us craft a transformation strategy rooted in our shared vision for the heart of our town. The forum will take place this Thursday, January 9 at 5:30 p.m. at Town Hall Council Chambers."
School
board's regular monthly
meeting next Tuesday
The
Johnston County Board of
Education will convene at
4 p.m. Tuesday (Jan. 14)
at the school system's
headquarters on US 70
Business East, beginning
with a closed session
followed by the open
business session around 5
p.m. The open session is
live-streamed on the
schools' YouTube
channel>
VIEW the
agenda once it's posted
online by the end of
this week>
DEATHS
& FUNERALS
A
WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE
EDITOR
Heartburn
over your 2025
tax-revaluation notice?
If
you've been paying
attention, you shouldn't
have been shocked. Demand
for quality real estate in
this fast-growing county
has inflated land and home
prices as never before
over the past several
years. And we got a
preview of what
revaluation would bring us
by what transpired in a
couple of neighboring
counties just last year:
• Wake County's 2024
revaluation produced a 52%
increase in total
real-estate value, and
that was after just four
years since that county's
previous revaluation.
• Suburban Franklin County
on the north side of Wake
saw values jump by 70%
after eight years since
its previous revaluation
was done.
That's
what happens when you reside
in an economic-development
"hot spot" like the Triangle
region in which we are a
major player.
Still, there are troublesome
aspects associated with
revaluation. Perhaps at the
top of that list are
seemingly inconsistent
values assigned to similar
neighboring properties. You
should take a look at that
information, which can be
readily found on the
county's website. Here's how
to access the map showing
every parcel in Johnston and
its newly assigned value for
taxation:
(1) Open
"MapClick" with this
link>
(2) Zoom in with either your
mouse or the "Zoom In"
button at the top of the
page until green property
lines show up and you can
distinguish the boundaries
of individual parcels (you
can use your mouse to move
the map around to find the
area you want to check).
(3) Click the "Query" tab
near the top left side of
the page; then click on the
particular parcel you wish
to check. That should show
you who owns the property
and its newly assigned
"Market Value" (as well as
the date and price of its
most recent purchase).
(4) Without leaving the map
page, click on another
parcel to get its
information. From that
point, continue clicking to
access additional parcels.
Besides "Market Value,"
another item worth checking
is the "property tax card"
attached to your particular
parcel. To the left of the
map you should find beside
"Query Type" a scroll-down
tab that starts with
"Single-Parcel Tax Info."
Click on that and scroll all
the way down to the bottom
and click "Tax Card." That
should pull up a page with
another button to click:
"2025 Tax Card." Check out
the details shown there to
make sure everything is
correct and up to date.
That's one place you may
find an error or two that
could affect your property's
newly assigned valuation.
If my instructions aren't
working for you, click the
"Help" button at the top of
the map page to find out
what you need to do to gain
access on your particular
device.
Once you've done your
research, you're well on the
way toward building a case
for a review of your
revaluation by the staff at
the Johnston County Tax
Office. Instructions for an
informal appeal are posted on
the office's website>
Good luck in your quest for
fair taxation!
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