CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C. — Homeowners in Cabarrus County are seeing a big change in their latest property tax bill.
The county adopted a new budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year that includes an increase in the property tax rate.
Property owners are getting their latest bill in the mail. Nick Sanchez, like many other homeowners in the county, immediately noticed the increase.
Some homeowners gathered outside of Kannapolis City Hall to voice their frustrations. Alfonso Patterson has lived in the area his entire life. He said he's never paid this much for a property tax bill.
“When your rent goes up, it’s going to go up because they’re raising taxes," Patterson said. "Needless to say, I’m a homeowner and I’m thankful for that when it comes to paying all this money. Last year it was $1300, this year it’s a few dollars under $2000. We shouldn’t have to pay that".
“We just pulled out our bill today or maybe a couple of days ago and realized that it was it went up about $300 from last year," Sanchez said, adding that “$2,000 on a 1000-square-foot property [is] pretty high."
The county does the revaluation process every four years. Cabarrus County Tax Administrator David Thrift breaks down why homeowners are seeing an increase.
The fear from several homeowners is that they’re being priced out.
“Our next step after this is Raleigh," Patterson said. "We have to get someone to do something with this nonsense that’s going on here.”
Thrift said that the tax office ensures "that property is valued at 100% of market value. So that's our goal, that's those values have increased because of the difference in the real estate market over that four-year period.”
Sanchez stressed the latest hike adds another hurdle for property owners. “We're small business owners, we're just trying to make it out here in this tough economy."
The county is offering solutions to help people pay their property tax bills.
“Our collections department can work with folks on payment plans to set up a process to account for instead of coming up with the tax bill all at once we can help set up a plan to make those payments," Thrift added.
Homeowners have between now and Jan. 7, 2025, to pay their tax bills.
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