If you’re a Guilford County homeowner and you don’t enjoy financial shocks, you might want to sit down before you log on to your computer on Tuesday, February 17.

That’s the day that the Guilford County Tax Department will post the new 2026 residential property values online.

At the same time, the county will begin mailing letters to every residential property owner stating the new assessed value of their home.

Those values will form the basis of the tax bills that go out in July 2026 and must be paid by early 2027. And for a large percentage of homeowners in the county, the reaction is likely to be sticker shock.

Guilford County Tax Director Ben Chavis has already told the Board of Commissioners publicly that overall property values in the county are expected to jump roughly 40 to 45 percent compared to the last revaluation. In many residential neighborhoods, the increases are expected to be on the high end of that range – or even higher than 50 percent.

Housing, Chavis told the Rhino Times, has been one of the property sectors that has appreciated the most since the last revaluation.

That means a home currently assessed at $250,000 could suddenly be valued at $350,000 or more. A $400,000 home could move north of $550,000. For people who’ve watched the local housing market over the last several years, that might not be shocking in theory, but seeing it in black and white on an official county document is another matter entirely.

County tax officials have been careful to remind residents that a higher property value doesn’t automatically mean a higher tax bill. That’s true. The Board of Commissioners will adopt a new tax rate this summer as part of the 2026-27 budget, and the board could lower the tax rate enough to make the revaluation revenue neutral, meaning the county would collect roughly the same total property tax revenue as before.

In reality, however, there’s little to no reason to believe this current board is going to embrace a revenue-neutral approach or anything like it.  Hopefully, understanding that leaving the tax rate at the current level in light of this revaluation and exisiting economy – and given the number of people on a fixed income in the county – the commissioners will take at least some pity on taxpayers.

However, whenever the Rhino Times speaks to Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Skip Alston about the matter, he shifts the conversation immediately to the immense needs the county has: over $3 billion in school bond debt, the need to add county staff and services to handle the coming influx of population, and the need for things like new construction of county facilities.

Board of Commissioners Vice Chair Carlvena Foster, when asked, also said the county had a whole lot of financial obligations and needs for the coming fiscal year, and Commissioner Mary Beth Murphy said earlier this month that she wants to see the numbers first regarding the county’s needs and the potential revenue from the revaluation.  Those numbers aren’t known yet exactly, but it is known that they will not be pretty when it comes to fiscal 2026-2027 costs.

When property values rose sharply in the last revaluation, the Board of Commissioners chose not to lower the tax rate, and people saw things like 25 and 30 percent increases in their property tax bills. At that time, several commissioners were quick to say they “didn’t raise the tax rate,” because the rate stayed the same. However, when property values go up dramatically and the tax rate stays the same, taxpayers pay more.

Proudly touting “We didn’t raise the tax rate – aren’t we great?” doesn’t change the ugly math of the final tax bill.

Over the last several budget cycles, the board has shown a very clear pattern: Whenever new revenue becomes available, it gets spent.

The commissioners have approved expanded programs, increased staffing, engaged in a great deal of new construction, offered more employee benefits and raises and begun new initiatives that create recurring financial obligations. Once those costs are baked into the budget, backing away from them becomes politically difficult.

Then there’s the future debt picture.

Guilford County is now planning a massive new government campus project that, along with repairs and enhancements to other county property in Greensboro and High Point, carries a price tag in the neighborhood of $570 million. Add in ongoing repairs, deferred maintenance on older buildings, school capital needs and other infrastructure commitments, and Guilford County’s long-term financial obligations are starting to look very scary.  In fact, they already look scary.

Most homeowners currently aren’t following the county’s retreats or budget workshops. They aren’t usually listening when the tax director walks commissioners through assessment ratios and sales data. Instead, they’ll simply click a link Tuesday or open a letter and see a number that’s tens of thousands – or even hundreds of thousands – of dollars higher than the last one.

There will likely be some properties that are valued at lower prices, but those will be few and very far between.

The values being posted Tuesday are for residential property only.

Business and commercial property values will be released later. But for most voters in Guilford County, the number that matters the most is the one attached to their home.

Once the notices go out, the appeals clock starts ticking: Property owners who believe their assessed value doesn’t reflect fair market value have the right to challenge it. The first step is typically an informal review with the Tax Department. That process allows a homeowner to present comparable sales, point out errors in square footage, condition, acreage or other characteristics – and argue that the value should be adjusted.

If the informal review doesn’t resolve the issue, property owners can take the matter to the county’s Board of Equalization and Review.

That board hears sworn testimony and reviews evidence. If a property owner is still dissatisfied after that decision, the appeal can be taken to the North Carolina Property Tax Commission at the state level.

Waiting until your tax bill shows up in mid-2026 will be too late to challenge the value that bill is based on.

Another reality many homeowners overlook is that revaluations tend to shift the tax burden. Even if the Board of Commissioners were to adopt a perfectly revenue-neutral tax rate, some property owners would still see increases, while others might see decreases.

 It all depends on how your property performed relative to the countywide average. If your home’s value rose more than the overall average, your share of the tax burden rises. If it rose less than average, your share could fall.

In the coming months, commissioners will talk about rising costs, school funding requests, public safety, capital needs and long-term investments. They’ll talk about maintaining services.

It’s almost unthinkable that they would leave the tax rate the same in light of the new values, however the operative word in that sentence is “almost.”

Based on past behavior, county spending, and recent discussions of the existing board, it seems doubtful property owners will be shown much mercy.

But remember, Chavis is not the one who makes the decision regarding your upcoming tax bill.  The number you see Tuesday is not the tax bill itself and citizens will have months to talk to their commissioners before any new tax rate is set.

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