71 counties hold the line on tax rates

• 2011-12 property tax rates: HTML | XLS

By Todd McGee
Communications Director

The floundering economy continued to take its toll on counties across North Carolina as they worked on their 2011-12 budgets, but many counties reported encouraging signs that the economy is improving.

The NCACC's annual survey of county property tax rates revealed a mixed bag for 2011-12. According to the survey, 21 counties increased property taxes for 2011-12 – including seven counties that went through revaluation and adopted a rate higher than their published "revenue neutral" rate – five reduced rates and 71 counties held their rates steady. Three counties adopted interim budgets. These numbers are roughly in line with each of the past three budget cycles.

Craven County kept its rate steady at 47.28 cents while cutting about $4 million out of its general fund budget. County Finance Administrator Rick Hemphill said the job of cutting was made easier because the county had conservatively estimated its property tax base for 2010-11 and received about $600,000 more in property tax revenue, and also because the county had finished paying an annual debt service payment of about $600,000 for the county human services building.

Pamlico County's budget of approximately $15.8 million represents a 1.7 percent decrease from the 2010-11 fiscal year. The county maintained its property tax rate of 65.25 cents by appropriating money from fund balance for the third consecutive year. The county budgeted $260,000 of fund balance for 2011-12, which represents a significant drop from the previous two budgets ($1.1 million in 2009-10 and $550,000 in 2010-11). Employees did not receive a cost-of-living adjustment.

Northampton County's $28.2 million budget used slightly more than $1 million of fund balance in order to keep the tax rate steady at 87 cents. The county would have needed to raise property taxes by nearly 6 cents to generate that much revenue, according to County Manager Wayne Jenkins. The budget did not include any cost-of-living raise for county employees.

Nash County's budget maintained the property tax rate of 67 cents. The budget keeps most of the county's departments and agencies at the same funding level as 2010-11 and cut 15 vacant positions. A motion to add an additional $400,000 for Nash Community College failed during budget deliberations.

Even though Rowan County commissioners approved a property tax increase of 2.75 cents, Rowan County citizens will still experience some reductions in service in the parks and recreation and public libraries due to continued declining revenues. During budget deliberations, each department was asked to plan for a reduction in funding ranging from 4 percent to 5 percent. Most departments – but not libraries or parks – were able to absorb the cuts without impacting services. Library Director Jeff Hall said in the Salisbury Post that the library will eliminate some of its programs this year, while Dan Nicholas Park stopped offering discounted or free camping for senior citizens as of July 1.

Harnett County was to close two libraries July 15, as the 2011-12 budget eliminated five part-time workers. The main library in Lillington was to also cut hours. The changes saved the county more than $80,000 and helped the county avoid a property tax increase. The board kept the property tax rate steady at 72.5 cents.

Cabarrus County commissioners took a long-range view while working on their 2011-12 budget. Commissioners froze spending at 2010-11 levels while maintaining the current tax rate. As a result, the county cut spending by nearly 9 percent from 2010-11. The adopted budget is about $203 million – a drop of almost 8.5 percent from 2010-11. The commissioners adopted a five-year plan that directs general expenditures to remain at these levels for the next five years.

The Moore County Board of Commissioners adopted a budget that did not increase property taxes. The adopted budget kept the property tax rate steady at 46.5 cents. Commissioners voted not to include a budget director position requested by the county manager and also made additional cuts to the veteran's services and the Department of Social Services from what was recommended by County Manager Cary McSwain.

Gaston County's adopted budget didn't quite reach some of the doomsday scenarios being discussed early in the process, primarily because commissioners opted to appropriate $13 million of fund balance to make up for the revenue shortfall. Commissioners kept property taxes steady and all libraries open, although some will be working on reduced hours. Earlier budget discussions had included the possibility of shutting down several of the county's library branches. The budget did not include any pay raises for employees and reflected reduced school construction revenues from the state.

2011-12 county property tax rates
County	2010-11 Tax Rate	2011-12 Tax Rate	2011-12 rev. neutral rate if reval	Change	Sales Assess Ratio	Effective Tax Rate
Alamance	$0.5200	$0.5200			103.1%	$0.5360
Alexander	$0.6050	$0.6050			92.6%	$0.5599
Alleghany	$0.4300	$0.4500		0.0200	100.0%	$0.4501
Anson	$0.7670	$0.7670			96.9%	$0.7435
Ashe	$0.4250	$0.4000	$0.4100	(0.0100)	98.8%	$0.3952
Avery	$0.3700	$0.3700			97.4%	$0.3604
Beaufort	$0.5000	$0.5300		0.0300	99.6%	$0.5277
Bertie	$0.7800	$0.7800			86.7%	$0.6759
Bladen	$0.7400	$0.7400			91.6%	$0.6781
Brunswick	$0.3050	$0.4425	$0.4425		97.3%	$0.4304
Buncombe	$0.5250	$0.5250			93.5%	$0.4910
Burke	$0.5200	$0.5200			104.5%	$0.5433
Cabarrus	$0.6300	$0.6300			107.1%	$0.6748
Caldwell	$0.6599	$0.6599			96.6%	$0.6372
Camden	$0.5900	$0.5900			111.7%	$0.6587
Carteret	$0.2300	$0.3000	$0.3000		98.0%	$0.2941
Caswell	$0.6590	$0.6590			98.8%	$0.6513
Catawba	$0.5350	$0.5300	$0.5300		100.0%	$0.5300
Chatham	$0.6219	$0.6219			101.9%	$0.6337
Cherokee	$0.3850	$0.3850			131.3%	$0.5055
Chowan	$0.6850	$0.6850			95.3%	$0.6527
Clay	$0.3250	$0.3600		0.0350	113.9%	$0.4099
Cleveland	$0.7200	$0.7200			97.0%	$0.6985
Columbus	$0.8150	$0.8150			84.6%	$0.6893
Craven	$0.4728	$0.4728			101.2%	$0.4786
Cumberland	$0.7400	$0.7400			100.1%	$0.7405
Currituck	$0.3200	$0.3200			120.1%	$0.3842
Dare	$0.2800	$0.2800			118.7%	$0.3324
Davidson	$0.5400	$0.5400			100.5%	$0.5429
Davie	$0.6200	$0.6200			104.6%	$0.6485
Duplin	$0.6900	$0.7100		0.0200	96.7%	$0.6869
Durham	$0.7459	$0.7459			102.7%	$0.7659
Edgecombe	$0.8600	$0.8600			97.0%	$0.8342
Forsyth	$0.6740	$0.6740			103.9%	$0.7003
Franklin	$0.8725	$0.8725			92.2%	$0.8041
Gaston	$0.8350	$0.8350			103.2%	$0.8619
Gates	$0.6400	$0.6400			104.6%	$0.6695
Graham	$0.4050	$0.4400		0.0350	100.4%	$0.4418
Granville	$0.7950	$0.7950			100.4%	$0.7979
Greene	$0.7560	$0.7560			90.9%	$0.6869
Guilford	$0.7374	$0.7824		0.0450	103.7%	$0.8115
Halifax	$0.6800	$0.6800			95.5%	$0.6494
Harnett	$0.7250	$0.7250			97.6%	$0.7077
Haywood	$0.5140	$0.5413	$0.5413		97.1%	$0.5254
Henderson	$0.4620	$0.5136	$0.5136		95.0%	$0.4879
Hertford	$0.9100	$0.8400	$0.8000	0.0400	101.1%	$0.8495
Hoke	$0.7000	$0.7300		0.0300	92.7%	$0.6766
Hyde	$0.5200	$0.5800		0.0600	100.0%	$0.5800
Iredell	$0.4450	$0.4850	$0.4710	0.0140	98.7%	$0.4787
Jackson	$0.2800	$0.2800			108.4%	$0.3036
Johnston	$0.7800	$0.7800	$0.7500	0.0300	98.7%	$0.7698
Jones	$0.7000	$0.7400		0.0400	84.8%	$0.6273
Lee	$0.7500	$0.7500			96.2%	$0.7215
Lenoir	$0.8000	$0.8000			103.0%	$0.8237
Lincoln	$0.5700	$0.5980	$0.6095	(0.0115)	98.7%	$0.5900
Macon	$0.2790	$0.2790			112.9%	$0.3151
Madison	$0.5600	$0.5600			75.3%	$0.4215
Martin	$0.6700	$0.6700			98.9%	$0.6625
McDowell	$0.5500	$0.5500			95.0%	$0.5224
Mecklenburg	$0.8387	$0.8166	$0.7883	0.0283	96.0%	$0.7839
Mitchell	$0.4000	$0.4000			104.5%	$0.4180
Montgomery	$0.6700	$0.6700			71.5%	$0.4788
Moore	$0.4650	$0.4650			98.3%	$0.4571
Nash	$0.6700	$0.6700			96.7%	$0.6482
New Hanover	$0.4655	$0.4655			113.0%	$0.5260
Northampton	$0.8700	$0.8700			103.2%	$0.8977
Onslow	$0.5850	$0.5850			99.1%	$0.5798
Orange	$0.8580	$0.8580			99.1%	$0.8504
Pamlico	$0.6525	$0.6525			72.7%	$0.4745
Pasquotank	$0.6050	$0.6200		0.0150	102.7%	$0.6364
Pender	$0.6500	$0.5120	$0.5120		100.7%	$0.5155
Perquimans	$0.4200	$0.4400		0.0200	114.4%	$0.5035
Person	$0.7000	$0.7000			94.1%	$0.6584
Pitt	$0.6650	$0.6650			99.3%	$0.6603
Polk	$0.5200	$0.5200			88.6%	$0.4606
Randolph	$0.5860	$0.5860			97.5%	$0.5712
Richmond	$0.8100	$0.8100			100.8%	$0.8167
Robeson	$0.7900	$0.7700		(0.0200)	100.0%	$0.7700
Rockingham	$0.7150	$0.6980	$0.6819	0.0161	98.8%	$0.6898
Rowan	$0.5950	$0.6225		0.0275	104.6%	$0.6511
Rutherford	$0.5300	$0.5300			100.5%	$0.5325
Sampson	$0.8450	$0.7850	$0.7700	0.0150	100.0%	$0.7850
Scotland	$1.0200	$0.9900	$0.9735	0.0165	100.0%	$0.9898
Stanly	$0.6700	$0.6700			90.9%	$0.6092
Stokes	$0.6000	$0.6400		0.0400	96.6%	$0.6182
Surry	$0.5820	$0.5820			98.0%	$0.5705
Swain	$0.3300	$0.3300			91.5%	$0.3019
Transylvania	$0.3949	$0.3949			98.8%	$0.3900
Tyrrell	$0.6700	$0.6600		(0.0100)	107.1%	$0.7068
Union	$0.6650	$0.6650			111.2%	$0.7392
Vance	$0.7820	$0.7820			116.8%	$0.9131
Wake	$0.5340	$0.5340			105.6%	$0.5639
Warren	$0.6000	$0.6200		0.0200	100.5%	$0.6233
Washington	$0.7900	$0.7900			90.8%	$0.7171
Watauga	$0.3130	$0.3130			97.9%	$0.3065
Wayne	$0.7640	$0.7025	$0.7025		99.5%	$0.6988
Wilkes	$0.6500	$0.6500			101.1%	$0.6572
Wilson	$0.7300	$0.7300			105.1%	$0.7675
Yadkin	$0.7400	$0.6900		(0.0500)	102.9%	$0.7097
Yancey	$0.4500	$0.4500			100.2%	$0.4510

State Average Effective Tax Rate: $0.6100