Several Greensboro city councilmembers at the end of the March 15 meeting brought up the revaluation of property in Guilford County and how that was going to increase the property tax bills.
Councilmembers Hugh Holston brought the topic up first and noted that property values had increased considerably saying, “They are up 30, 40, 50, 60 percent.”
He said, “There are some opportunities for tax relief if you are elderly or a disabled veteran or some other things.”
Councilmember Sharon Hightower spoke about the “tax rate” going up, which is inaccurate. It is the value of property that has increased at present – the tax rate has not increased. She noted, “If you’re not a senior, you don’t get that senior discount or a veteran.”
Councilmember and mayoral candidate Justin Outling said, “Guilford County has a program for tax relief for low income seniors; the city does not.”
He suggested that the city look at a program to provide tax relief for low income property owners in the city.
However, Holston, Hightower and Outling didn’t talk about how the City Council could provide tax relief to all the property owners in Greensboro and is well within the authority of the City Council, which is implementing the “revenue neutral” tax rate for Greensboro.
The state of North Carolina requires that municipalities and counties publish the revenue neutral tax rate after a revaluation. The revenue neutral rate is the rate that would raise the same amount of revenue for the municipality or county as if the revaluation had not taken place. It is not a one-to-one tax bill reduction, since some property increased in value more than others, but it would provide overall tax relief for the property owners of Greensboro.
In 2017, the last time there was a property revaluation in Guilford County, the City Council did not lower the tax rate to the revenue neutral rate, effectively receiving the equivalent amount of revenue as if taxes had been raised by 2.11 cents.
Because the property values increased at a higher rate in the past five years, if the City Council does not lower the tax rate to the revenue neutral point, the city will receive additional revenue as if taxes had been raised by 3 cents, 4 cents or perhaps more.
In 2017, city councilmembers bragged about not raising the tax rate while still benefiting from what was essentially a more than 2 cent tax increase.
Mayor Nancy Vaughan has previously said that she is in favor of adjusting the tax rate because of the revaluation but said she could not commit to supporting a revenue neutral tax rate until more city financial information was available.
Without more revenue how can Mandate Mayor prop up nonprofits run by her peers and supporters while also paying Skip and Co for expanding and propping up the Matt Brown Entertainment complex and Performance arts palace?
I support reduced spending. Anyone in for that?
Just make me King of Guilford County.
Our property revaluation is 50% which will a significant tax increase. If some downward adjustment can’t be made to the tax rate perhaps a prorated reverse reduction over the next 5 years. In other words, if the tax increase would be 50%, or for example $1,000, adjust the rate to reflect a tax increase of $200/year over the next 5 years.
Insane that they will allow taxes to jump as much as the home value jump. Greedy Liberals is why I will never identify as a Liberal or a Democrat no what you nutters think. I will say it again, I am an old school republican that believes in the conservative philosophy established by Coolidge and refined by Reagan.
I just can’t support the modern conservative views on social and scientific issues. Not to mention the big lie from all the sore losers that backed the totalitarian Trump.
But there ya go. Since modern republicans have no tolerance for those that think differently on any topic and call them Rhinos, Liberals, Marxists, Socialists, Commies. You end up isolated and the minority party. So this is what you get.
Yes, we call liberals liberals, Marxists Marxists, and socialists socialists. It’s accurate. We are called fascists, bigots and racists when it’s not accurate, just character assassination.
Which side is slinging mud? Which side is lying?
What joke. You ask who is mud slinging while mud slinging and ask who is lying while lying.
In what universe can you call Trump a totalitarian, with what we have witnessed over the past 15 months?
In fact, give us some specific examples of Trump’s totalitarian policies?
Was it where he mandated vaccines? Oh, right, that was Biden.
Was it when he got us into multiple conflicts around the world? Oh, no, that was every other president in my lifetime.
Was it when he raised the price of life saving medications? That’s right, it was Biden, his first week in office, undoing just about everyone of Trumps executive orders, just 3 months after he said “you can’t rule by executive fiat” in the debate.
Was it when his totalitarian policies caused the price of gas to go up over $4. Nope, his policies lead to us becoming an energy independent nation, for the first time in like, forever.
Which one of his policies decimated the supply chain and lead to empty shelves in many grocery stores?
Which one of his policies created the greatest rate of inflation in modern times?
Which one of his policies lead to the most massive influx of illegal aliens?
Name one thing that Biden has “built back better”, besides the Taliban.
Seriously, you, and others like you, don’t know why you hate the man. You only hate him because the magic TV box told you to. You buy in to every bit of propaganda the media outlets feed you, and you don’t know how to think for yourself.
And, say what you will about the Republicans – I won’t defend them any more – they’re about as useless as the Democrats. Just about every politician in DC is as crooked as the day is long, no matter what letter they have after their name. Trump wasn’t afraid to call out all the BS, and that’s what his supporters love about him. Every other republican we’ve voted for is afraid to stand on any kind of principle, because they’re afraid of what some fringe minority special interest group will say about them, so they turn right around and crap on their constituents.
I’m done ignoring the ignorant. I’m done putting up with the left getting away with projecting their faults onto us. They call us racists, but they’re the ones who think black people need a separate set of standards, because they’re not smart enough to make it on their own. They call us Nazis, but they’re the ones who want to cancel/censure/imprison anyone who doesn’t think like they do. They call us liars, but they’re the ones who, for all of 2020 claimed they weren’t going to take any “Trump vaccine”, and as soon as Biden is in office, they’re all on board with persecuting the unvaxxed.
Facts don’t matter with you people, only feelings, and that’s why you were told to hate Trump, because he hurt your feelings. Too many of you spoiled, entitled simpletons, have never had to hear the word “No”, or accept any responsibility for the lame decisions you’ve made in life. You pick a useless major at some outrageously expensive college, then turn around and expect the taxpayers to pay off your student loans, because the best job you can get is mixing soy lattes at minimum wage.
Your idiot Democrats in Congress impeached Trump for something that Biden did. There’s video of Biden bragging about holding back 2 billion dollars if they didn’t fire the prosecutor investigating the company who laundering money back to Biden through his son, Hunter, but did the media ever show or investigate that? Hell no. They turn around and take the word of some fat-ass Lieutenant Colonel who thinks it’s his job to dictate foreign policy, not the President.
The clown world you people live in is unbelievable. If you hate America so much, if you think socialism is so damn great, why don’t you pack your bags and move to a socialist country, where the non-elitist population is dependent on the government for everything? But stop trying to ruin this country. There’s a reason multitudes of people around the world want to come here – it’s the greatest nation on Earth. But not for much longer.
Give me a break!!
I was the first candidate to announce that I would fight for a revenue neutral rate. Of course it takes five votes and that’s going to be a challenge. No chance of that with the current group. Remember 8 out of 9 raised your tax rate from 63.25 to 66.25 three years ago. They thought we’d forget.
Whatever happened to the lead article about the salary hikes for city employees?