Union County homeowners are bracing themselves for sticker shock as the 2021 countywide real estate revaluation is complete and owners are receiving their notices in the mail starting this week. The last time that properties in Union County were re-assessed was in 2015 and since that time, the median home price has increased 51%. Based on data released by the Union County Tax Assessors office, the median value increase of all property (residential, commercial, industrial, raw land) was 35.6%.

Here’s what you need to know:

Property Owners can see their updated Tax Value online at https://unionnc.devnetwedge.com/ and entering their address information or parcel ID.

Once you receive written notice of your new tax value, you will have up to 30 days to appeal the value, which can be submitted online: https://www.unioncountync.gov/departments/taxes-property/2021-revaluation. The deadline for all valuation appeals is June, 2021. Your appeal will go before an Equalization Board to determine if your claim is valid.

Our firm can provide comparable sale listings to assist with your appeal. An appraisal from 2020 or 2021 will also suffice. Simply complete the form below and you will receive comparable sales from 2020 to assist with your appeal.

Note: It’s important that you use sales from 2020 instead of 2021 since, more likely than not, the values from 2021 are even higher than 2020.

IF YOU ARE SELLING YOUR HOME IN UNION COUNTY BEFORE JULY 2021

Keep in mind that property taxes are comprised of the tax assessed value and a tax rate, which is set in July each year. Given the substantial increase in property tax values, it is unknown at this time whether the Union County and individual city leaders will pass a new tax rate that is revenue neutral (meaning that the rate will be decreased so that the median tax bill would be the same) or adjusted to somewhere in between revenue neutral and the current.

In 2015, County tax rate was reduced from .6600 per $100 to .3064 per $100 in connection with the property tax value reassessment. For 2020, the County tax rate stands at .2163 per $100 with towns like Indian Trail (.1850 per $100), Stallings (.2150 per $100), Monroe (.6163 per $100) and Waxhaw (.3850 per $100) adding their millage on top. Even at a revenue neutral rate, some property owners paid more in 2015 than they did in 2014.

However, until the new millage rate is known in July, your pro-rated property tax bill will be based on the current rate + the new tax value. That could lead to a pro-ration amount that is 30-60% higher than what the actual bill will be.

For home buyers purchasing in Union County, you should budget using the current tax rate + the new value since we don’t know what the new rate will be. The new millage rate will be set in July 2021.

Whether or not the Union County Board decides to adopt a revenue neutral millage rate or one that is higher, properties that had the highest percentage value gain will experience a tax increase.