With some county departments, it can be difficult to know if the department is doing its job well.
However, with the Guilford County Tax Department, there’s one metric that pretty much says it all: the property tax collection rate.
During a recent budget report from the Guilford County Budget Department to the Board of Commissioners, Assistant Budget Director Rusty Mau said that over the last two years the collection rate by the Tax Department has been “phenomenal.”
According to statistics from the Tax Department, the property tax collection rate in Guilford County for fiscal 2020-2021, was 99.46 percent. For fiscal 2021-2022, the fiscal year that just closed out on June 30, the county had a property tax collection rate of 99.34 percent.
Assistant Guilford County Tax Director Jim Roland said this week that the department is indeed very pleased with the collection rates over the last two fiscal years given the pandemic and the financial challenges that many people in the county have faced.
It really has been phenomenal,” Roland said. “That’s the perfect word for it, given the pandemic and other challenges. It’s really been crazy.”
When asked why payment rates have been so high in the pandemic – when a lot of people lost their jobs – Roland said, “We’ve kicked that question around.”
He said one thing that’s been a real success for collection efforts is a program that beefed up the threat of foreclosures about seven years ago. He said that, before that program was established – with which Chief Deputy Guilford County Attorney Matt Mason played a major role – the county’s foreclosure threats rarely had much teeth because there wasn’t a focus on carrying them through. Now people know they very well might lose their homes if they don’t pay.
Roland also said he feels his department has done an excellent job of working with county property owners to discuss payment plans and of working with people in other ways to help see that their tax bill is paid.
He added that the federal aid to people and businesses over the last two years was no doubt a big help for the collection rates.
“It seems to be that, when people got relief funds, the government was one of the first creditors they paid,” Roland said.
The Tax Department consistently has collection rates that are near the top of those in the state. Roland said a state report later in September will show results for collection efforts across North Carolina for fiscal 2021-2022. He said he feels confident that, when that does come out, Guilford County will be at least in the top 10 percent of the state’s 100 counties.
Doubtful that the current tax bills will be paid with the same “enthusiasm.”
Why is it that the ‘ordinary citizen’ homeowner never receives the credit which is due THEM? It is my opinion that the taxpayer in Guilford County is “simply” a responsible, clear thinking, honest and bill-paying citizen! Hooray for all!
(Wish that all politicians could be that upright!!)
It’s called COMMUNICATION. Taxpayers appreciate it.
Our politicians should try it sometime.
So lets think about this, Federal relief funds (federal tax money) paid local taxes. Just a big shuffle of money from one hand to the other but no matter how you cut it the tax payer gets screwed, The federal deficit is at an all time high, the GSO & Guilford County taxes are some of the highest in the country but our tax dept is proud of their collection rate after threatening to foreclose on the tax payers property. With inflation in hand, high gas prices and interest rates at an all time high, I guess our tax department will actually get to carry out some of those foreclosures they are so proud of using as a threat to pay taxes. Some of the riches in GC live in retirement facilities that are listed as charities and pay no taxes, it would be good if the IRS investigated them and let them pay taxes like the rest of us.
The long-term care facilities (retirement facilities) do not pay property tax courtesy of the NC General Assembly. There is a NC statute that exempts such facilities. This was the result of lobbyists for the facilities after the NC Supreme Court struck down tax-exempt status for Presbyterian Homes (now going by different names but still Presbyterian Homes and Masonic Homes now Whitestone in Greensboro) on the grounds of separation of state and religious facilities. At the time (circa 1996), these were the only two such facilities that were considered nonprofit and tax-exempt.
After the NC Supreme Court ruling, it was a perfect time for the General Assembly to eliminate the unfairness of the tax-exempt status. Instead, lobbyists for Presbyterian Homes, Masonic Homes as well as the facility that brought the suit, and other such facilities began their efforts to pressure the NC General Assembly legislators to pass a statute that would include all such facilities thereby removing the church/state argument. Enter § 105-278.6A. Qualified retirement facility.
Years ago, I wrote my GA Representative. She was unfamiliar with the statute and was surprised by it. There is no disrespect for her not knowing. This is how statutes work. Legislators who were not in the GA at the time the statute was passed have no reason to know the statue or most statutes passed unless one is brought to their attention. Statutes are so complex. That is part of the plan; pass a statute and it will be there forever unless it is re-visited for some reason.
So, here we are. All property owners in Guilford County subsidizing multimillion dollar retirement facilities. This statute cannot be justified regardless of how the facilities manipulate facts to maintain their tax-exempt status.
Thank you for the info. I have complained to my state rep also with no reply. The residents pay no city/ county taxes but can vote on bonds that the rest of us pay.
GSO pays for lobbying and this would be a good issue for the city & county to lobby to remove the tax exempt status to receive taxes from the groups and residents. Just not fair to the rest of us to subsidize these facilities.
So true about the vote. Students can vote and many may vote in their home city/state also. Easy fraud. Students also vote on bonds that the residents are left to pay for when the students leave.
More proof you do not live in a free country! And that you never really own anything. Try not paying your property taxes and you’ll see you don’t own your land, your car or your body. Your mom gave that to them, starting in 1913.
Not a lot to figure out here – hold a gun to someone’s head and you can be pretty well be assured that they will admit their mother is a whore when asked.
I was just thinking about my property taxes today. Got an email from a lawn service seeing if I wanted to aerate and over seed this year. Not going to be doing that because after paying my property taxes I had to find areas to economize to cover the increase. Multiply that by however many people there are (I’m guessing a lot) out there making the same choices, and you see how shortsighted the enormous tax increase was. Yes, I paid on time like I always do, but thanks to our county commissioners the extra money I paid this year took business away from a small business that needed it and its employees. The worst of it is the absurdly large bond issue they passed guarantees they’ll be back for more and more for years to come as the debt service of those expenditures crowds out the county’s ability to provide necessary services.