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OPINIONS
June 6, 2019 |
 |
 Wingate Lassiter |
Paying higher taxes ought to be
expected after eight-year "freeze"
One down, one to go.
The Smithfield Town Council this week finished its budget for the new fiscal year that starts July 1. It leaves the town's property-tax rate unchanged --- again. But this time that will mean an increase in property-tax bills for most of us because of real-estate revaluation.
Depending on your particular situation, your bill may go up as much as 10 percent.
The Johnston County Board of Commissioners begins its budget deliberations in earnest next week. The county manager's recommendation is to do the same as Smithfield has done: keep the tax rate unchanged. Whether the commissioners will accept that remains to be seen.
Why shouldn't property taxes go up for county as well as town this year? Those taxes haven't been raised in eight years, since the last revaluation took effect, so it's understandable that our bills will see an increase. Can you think of anything that doesn't cost more today than it did eight years ago?
As Board Chairman Ted Godwin observed during Monday's public hearing on the proposed county budget: "When you have an eight-year revaluation gap, you tend to fall behind in meeting the needs."
One way to lessen the "sticker shock" of infrequent tax increases is to shorten the period between revaluations. State law requires counties to do that at least every eight years, but many of North Carolina's counties have cut that to every four years. Johnston County isn't there yet, but the commissioners earlier this year decided to shorten the next period to six years and then move to every four years after revaluation is done again in 2025.
That will surely help "ease the pain" of "catch-up" property-tax hikes.
There's always a valid concern among taxpayers about "wasteful government spending" as the suspected cause of higher taxes. But in our quest for better schools, heightened public safety, expanded opportunities for public recreation, and many other things, more likely than not we're going to have to pay a little more from time to time to reach those goals.
Our local elected officials take pride in calling themselves "conservative" when it comes to fiscal policy. Raising our tax bills after years of no increases doesn't make those leaders any less so.
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