Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
interpretation of the law is similar to interpretation of the Bible because people can interpret <br /> them in the way they want them to read. He said that he has discussed this issue with five or <br /> six different attorneys, some of whom have done in-depth studies of the revaluation situation, <br /> and they also disagree with the January 1st deadline. The law says that it must be done every <br /> eight years period. He said that Rockingham, Caldwell, and Stanley Counties have rescinded <br /> their revaluations. This all happened after January 1st. He asked the County Commissioners <br /> to provide the public with a State statute that says that a revaluation cannot be rescinded after <br /> January 1st. <br /> The following was transcribed verbatim, per Commissioner Jacobs, for the <br /> benefit of the Durham-Orange Genealogical Society, who had left by this time: <br /> Commissioner Jacobs: I'm sure the other Board members, after we have a <br /> discussion on the revaluation, which is the item we added and is the next item on the agenda, <br /> may have something to say, but I just wanted to address the Heritage Center and the people <br /> from D-OGS who were here. As a member of the Board of Commissioners who was on all four <br /> Library Task Forces, I hope that the members of D-OGS are barking up the wrong tree. I <br /> believe that the Board of Commissioners, with the exception of one Commissioner, has never <br /> expressed opposition to having a freestanding Heritage Center. The problem that we're <br /> running into, as you will hear, and as Mr. McKee spoke earlier heard when he came to a work <br /> session, is that we're trying to cut costs. And in cutting costs, we're looking at alternatives for <br /> how we can deal with a Heritage Center. We haven't made any decisions yet. I personally, <br /> and I'm sure the Board as a group, appreciate people expressing their concerns, but we <br /> haven't reached any conclusions. No decisions have been made about what's going to <br /> happen to the collection. We have a great respect for the heritage of Orange County, and I <br /> think that we'll work toward what we set out to do when we designed the library, which was to <br /> have as adequate a library as we possibly could and to have a Heritage Center somewhere <br /> else that could meet the needs of the existing collection and be a place where the collection <br /> can grow. <br /> b. Matters on the Printed Agenda <br /> (These matters were considered when the Board addressed that item on the agenda <br /> below.) <br /> 3. Proclamations/ Resolutions/ Special Presentations <br /> a. Revaluation Analysis <br /> Tax Assessor John Smith made a PowerPoint presentation. <br /> 2009 Orange County, NC Revaluation <br /> March 17, 2009 <br /> Revaluation Analysis <br /> Orange County revalued real property in 2009. Following the 1989 revaluation of real property <br /> Orange County has revalued real property every four years. NC statutes require counties to <br /> publish a revenue neutral tax rate. Revenue neutral is a tax rate that when applied to the new <br /> property values will generate the same tax dollars as received in the previous year. <br /> The goal of a revaluation is to align appraised property values with market values and the <br /> assessment ratio should be 100%. For the most part, assessed valuations remain unchanged <br /> between revaluations. This typically means the gap between the County's assessment and <br />