Minutes 04-20-2021 Virtual Business Meeting

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41 Slide #20 For More Information Contact the Orange County Tax Office: 919-245-2100,option 2 Live chat by visiting: �w/de p artrrerts/tax/ Commissioner Fowler asked if valuations are being reexamined in the Northside community. Nancy Freeman said staff is reviewing data for that neighborhood. She said staff is also looking at the Pine Knolls neighborhood. She said there were 31 Northside sales in the last year, averaging $390,000. She said the averaged assessed value is $360,000. She said the average assessed value of all the properties in Northside is $334,490. She said the assessed values are a little lower than the sales values in the area. She said the average Pine Knolls sales price was $335,000, and the average assessed value was $351,000. She said the average assessed value of all the properties in Pine Knolls was $307,216. She said, again, values are a little lower than the sales. She said staff looked at anyone that is receiving the Homestead exemption or tax assistance, of which there are 17 in Northside and 6 in Pine Knolls. She said there were 29 appeals in these two areas, and staff worked 20 of those, with 6 having no change. She said she would assume 14 would have been a reduction. She said the data is solid, and sales support the values that have been assigned. She said staff cannot find anything that has been done incorrectly, but it is still looking for any possible mistakes. She said this is an area that has grown, and sales are happening at higher prices. She said investors have bought many of these properties to be used as rentals, especially for students, which has increased their value. Chair Price said she, Nancy Freeman, and other key leaders will be meeting with residents to make sure the right messaging is being put out, and explain how the County can help. She said staff will also continue to look at the neighborhoods, to insure the data is correct, which it seems to be. She said staff will look at mappings and visit the neighborhoods to insure the exact boundaries of these neighborhoods are known. Chair Price said this situation is not unique to Orange County, and it is exacerbated by COVID-19. She said people are in competition with investors. Commissioner Hamilton said she is unclear on the sales ratio industry standards. She asked if the numerator and the denominator be identified. Chad Phillips, Deputy Tax Assessor, said it takes the sale price, and what staff has it assessed at, and you take the two and they are the numerator and the denominator. Commissioner Hamilton clarified that the numerator is the assessed value. Nancy Freeman said the numerator is the assessed value and the denominator is the sales price. She said if these numbers are equal, then there is 1.00; if the appraised value is lower than sales price, then it would be under than 1.00. Commissioner Hamilton said not every home is sold in a neighborhood, and asked if the sales price is on the proportion of homes that are actually sold. Chad Phillips said a random sample of homes is sent to the state. He said all the sales were used in these neighborhoods. He said there were 31 sales out of 700 properties.