Orange County NC Website
23 <br /> 1 unique properties, with the overlap representing properties that were appealed at both informal <br /> 2 and formal levels. Of the formal apeals, 77 were not submitted by the deadline and will not be <br /> 3 considered. <br /> 4 <br /> 5 As of November 26, 2025, the Tax Office issued decisions on 100% of the informal appeals. The <br /> 6 Board of Equalization and Review has completed 655 or 64% of the formal appeals with 367 in <br /> 7 process. The remaining appeals are scheduled to be completed on or before January 22, 2025. <br /> 8 The additional days added in January are to account for rescheduled appeals, continued appeals, <br /> 9 and appeals from neighborhood reviews. <br /> 10 <br /> 11 The total change in assessed value from appeals is a decrease of$232,489,448 as of November <br /> 12 26, 2025. The median change for residential properties is a decrease of$38,000, and the median <br /> 13 change for nonresidential properties is a decrease of$66,400. <br /> 14 <br /> 15 Neighborhood Reviews <br /> 16 The Tax Office conducted an equity analysis on the County's 1,026 assessment neighborhoods. <br /> 17 The International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) specifies that measures of vertical <br /> 18 equity are only representative of possible inequities in neighborhoods that have a statistically <br /> 19 significant amount of sales. Based on that, the Tax Office reviewed the neighborhoods with five <br /> 20 (5) sales or more and identified 86 neighborhoods that were outside of the equity standards used <br /> 21 by the IAAO. Of the neighborhoods with less than five (5) sales, the Tax Office examined those <br /> 22 neighborhoods for consistency and reasonableness and identified an additional 76 <br /> 23 neighborhoods that required a more thorough review. The Tax Office also studied the 19 <br /> 24 neighborhoods identified by the Orange County Property Tax Justice Coalition for possible value <br /> 25 adjustments. A total of 171 neighborhoods were identified by the Tax Office for closer review. If <br /> 26 value adjustments are made as a result of the neighborhood reviews, property owners will receive <br /> 27 notice of the change and will have fifteen (15) days to appeal that change to the Board of <br /> 28 Equalization and Review. <br /> 29 <br /> 30 Tanner Valuation Group is assisting the Tax Office with the neighborhood level reviews. As of <br /> 31 November 26, 2025, 152 neighborhood reviews or 89% have been completed. Those reviews <br /> 32 resulted in value adjustments to 1,460 properties and a total assessed value decrease of <br /> 33 $60,972,300. The remaining 19 neighborhoods will be completed by December 19, 2025. <br /> 34 <br /> 35 While conducting the neighborhood reviews, the Tanner Group observed some common issues <br /> 36 warranting a decrease to the original assessed value. The most common reason that assessed <br /> 37 values were reduced during the neighborhood review process was that the original assessed <br /> 38 value was not discounted due to deferred maintenance. During the appraisal process, Orange <br /> 39 County appraisers conducted roadside evaluations of approximately 10,000 of the approximately <br /> 40 58,000 properties in Orange County. The roadside review can result in a reduction in value due <br /> 41 to deferred maintainance if it can be obseved on the exterior of the property, but appraisers do <br /> 42 not inspect the interior of homes unless they are invited. As a result, properties that were not <br /> 43 viewed by appraisers in a roadside evaluation and properties where maintenance was deferred <br /> 44 on the interior would not have been accounted for in the original value assessment. A question <br /> 45 about best practices for identifying, verifying, and accounting for deferred maintenance will be <br /> 46 added to the Tax Assessment Work Group Request for Proposal for consulting services. <br /> 47 <br /> 48 Tanner Valuation Group also noted that some neighborhoods in Orange County, particularly near <br /> 49 the University, include a variety of housing types. Mass appraisal generally assumes that <br /> 50 properties in a neighborhood are like one another. However, some neighborhoods in Orange <br /> 51 County have very diverse houising types where older, owner-occupied properties are situated <br />