The Guilford County Tax Department is currently finishing up a county-wide revaluation of every piece of property in Guilford County and, according to the numbers as they stand right now, on average, the values of homes and businesses are more than 30 percent higher than they were four years ago when the 2022 revaluation was conducted.

Now, a large increase in housing and other property values does not automatically lead to an increase in tax bills because local governments always have the option of lowering the tax rate to a level that would mean the amount of money coming into the county from property taxes remained roughly the same, and it would also mean that the tax bills of property owners would stay at current levels.

Another option would be to lower the tax rate to at least some extent to take some of the financial pressure off of property owners.

But that will not be happening in 2026 when the new tax bills hit.

This week, Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston told the Rhino Times that, though it may be difficult on property owners in the county, the Board of Commissioners will not be lowering the tax rate next year despite the fact that property values are scheduled to come in at 32 percent over the current values listed on the books at the Guilford County Tax Department.

County property owners are still reeling from the shock of their tax bills that shot up in 2022 and have remained high ever since that revaluation. In that case, some saw their tax bills increase by 25 percent, 30 percent, or more.

Alston said that the county is providing a great deal of services, building many new schools and fixing up old ones, adding county programs that enhance the lives of citizens, and undertaking much-needed projects – such as the construction of a new administrative headquarters for the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office and a new drug treatment center designed to help the homeless.

Chairman Alston said these are all important services and projects and, while property owners may have to dig a little deeper in their wallets at tax time, they will also be enjoying the benefits of a much better county due to the improvements in county government, education and other areas of local life.

The last time there was a Guilford County revaluation of property was in 2022 and the county wasn’t originally scheduled to hold another one until 2027.

However, once actual sales prices of houses and businesses were studied, it turned out that the assessed values from the Tax Department revaluation were less than 85 percent of the actual sale values.  In North Carolina, for a county of Guilford County’s size, the law states that a financial miss by that much requires a new revaluation to capture that lost revenue – which is why Guilford County is doing a new revaluation early.

The last time the county conducted a revaluation, 2022, and the commissioners did not adjust the tax rate lower, it added about $92 million that year – as well as in the years following – that commissioners could spend.

The county commissioners took all the money the county was already using, spent that extra $92 million and even began raiding the county’s savings account – known as the general fund – in order to cover all the new spending the board was doing.

Alston said that the coming fiscal budget, 2025-2026, which will be adopted in June of this year, will be a very difficult one because funds are extremely tight; however, county government will be much better off in the following year, he said, because of all the new money that the county will have in hand thanks to the higher housing and other property valuations.

“We can’t lower the tax rate,” Alston said. “There are too many things that need to be paid for.”

Alston said that, for instance, each year the county has to set aside more than $50 million in every budget to fund upcoming school bond repayments in order to pay back the $2 billion for schools that the county is borrowing.”

“That right there is a 7-cent increase,” the chairman said.

(Currently, a one-cent increase in the county’s tax rate generates just over $7 million in new revenue.)

The 2022 revaluation – with no downward adjustment in the tax rate – came out to a 14-cent tax increase per $100 of assessed property value, almost certainly the largest tax hike in the history of Guilford County.

Alston said that, if citizens had approved the sales tax increase on the same ballot that they approved the $1.7 billion school bond referendum, that would have generated about $25 million a year to help take some of the pressure off of property owners.

However, he said, voters decided not to go down that route.

Recently, Alston told the Rhino Times that, since the current $2 billion in school bond funds isn’t covering the needed school projects, Guilford County is likely to need to hold another large school bond referendum in the next two or three years.

That’s another reason the county can’t cut the tax rate, Alston said.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners currently has a 7-to-2 Democratic majority, which leaves the two Republicans on the board – Alan Perdue and Pat Tillman – powerless to stop the giant tax increase that will be coming in 2026.

Tillman told the Rhino Times that it was unconscionable for the board to continue raising the tax burden on homeowners to this extent. He said county leaders need to instead find some way to make government more efficient, lower costs and stop going back time and time again to putting large burdens on homeowners, many of whom are on fixed incomes.

But it’s the votes that count in the end, and, since the current Democrat-majority board took power several years ago, what Alston says, is what always goes.

Alston despises President Donald Trump to no end; however, the absolute influence that Trump wields over Republican politicians is similar in scope to the power that Alston wields over Democrats on the board.

Make no mistake about it: In the end, it is Alston who calls the shots when it comes to anything regarding Guilford County government.

 So, if Alston says the tax rate won’t be lowered next year, then it will not be.

The Rhino Times has been meaning to ask the Clerk to the Board’s Office how many times in the past four years a Democratic commissioner on the board has broken with Alston.

The Rhino has not done that yet because it would put the office through a lot of work and the Rhino, which attends or watches every Guilford County Board of Commissioners meeting, already knows the answer: Not the exact answer, however, the Rhino knows that the number of times a Democrat on the board broke with Alston on a vote in the last four years can be counted on one hand with at least a couple of fingers to spare.

So, you will get much higher property value assessments in the coming year and your tax bill will be much, much higher.

The Rhino Times pointed out to Alston that, when the Republican Board of Commissioners was in charge, and a revaluation was conducted, Republican commissioners like Jeff Phillips, Hank Henning, Alan Branson, Alan Perdue and others held taxpayers harmless by lowering the county’s property tax rate to the “revenue-neutral rate.”

That meant people’s tax bills stayed about the same.

“They cut the tax rate,” Alston said, “but, when it comes to services, they didn’t do anything.  They didn’t help the homeless; they didn’t fund the schools properly– they didn’t do anything.”

In reality, when the Republican commissioners ruled the board from 2012 to 2020, Guilford County provided many new and well-appreciated services.

 For instance, the board established the Family Justice Center, built a much-needed and expensive new Emergency Services maintenance facility, approved $300 million in school bonds to be put on the ballot, secured funds for a new animal shelter and oversaw countless renovations of dilapidated county buildings and parking lots – to name a few beneficial projects.

And, in eight years leading the board, the Republicans never raised the tax rate once. Instead, they lowered it.

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