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Pat Jones, a leader in education, church and community, dies at 78

North Carolina News

Legislator served with domestic violence order

State Rep. Cody Henson, R-Transylvania, was served with a domestic violence protection order late last month, records from the Transylvania County Courthouse show.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Donation expands DuPont State Forest by 400 acres

Conserving Carolina has transferred 402 acres of land to the North Carolina Forest Service to expand Dupont State Recreational Forest while conserving key headwater streams and adding to a 100,000-acre corridor of conserved land.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Search turns up meth, coke, pills, pot and guns

The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office SWAT and Drug Enforcement Team charged a 41-year-old Stepp Mill Road woman with seven drug-related charges after they executed a search warrant ather home.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Don't miss this week's Hendersonville Lightning (204)

You won't want to miss this week’s Hendersonville Lightning.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Cooper appoints Beasley as chief justice

Gov. Roy Cooper on Tuesday named Associate Justice Cheri Beasley as Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, making her the first black woman to serve in the role. “This is not the North Carolina of 200 years ago,” Beasley said. “Chief Justice Mark Martin has admirably served our state for years, and I wish him well in his new role,” Cooper said in a statement. “Justice Beasley is a well-respected jurist, and I know her to be fair and deeply committed to viewing all North Carolinians equally through the eyes of the law. I appreciate Justice Beasley’s willingness to serve the people of our state in this critical role.”A state Supreme Court justice since 2012, Beasley was previously an associate judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals, and before that served as a District Court judge. Gov. Jim Hunt first appointed Justice Beasley to the state bench in 1999. Beasley is a graduate of Rutgers University and received her J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Law. Since he picked a current Supreme Court judge to replace retiring Chief Justice Mark Martin, Cooper will also need to appoint a justice tro fill Beasley’s seat. Cooper said he will announce his pick for that seat later. If he picks another Democrat to replace Beasley, the court will have a 6-1 Democratic majority, the Raleigh News & Observer noted in its report. The court had been 5-2 in favor of Democrats before Martin, a Republican, announced he was leaving to lead a law school in Virginia.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Ed Foundation announces Hall of Fame inductees

The Henderson County Education Foundation announced five recipients of the 2019 Education Hall of Fame on Tuesday.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

New assessed values go out Tuesday

Notice of new  values for every real property parcel in Henderson County go out Tuesday — the start of a weeks long process in which landowners and homeowners can appeal. "They will be mailed tomorrow" by a vendor in the Triangle, said Tax Assessor Darlene Burgess said Monday. "Based on past experience, we're expecting people will start receiving them Wednesday afternoon. Appeals could land anywhere from a trickle to a flood, although a roaring local real estate market suggests a flood is possible. The 2019 revaluation is expected to show a much higher percentage increase in home values than in 2015, especially for mid-priced homes. In the last reassessment four years ago Condo sales in 2018 were up by 4 percent, to $214,630, while single family homes on average rose from $288,847 to $300,044 — a 3.8 percent increase. Topping $300,000 on average, the sales price is "the highest we have ever had in Henderson County," broker Steve Dozier of Beverly-Hanks Realtors said. Those are year-over-year increases; the property assessment notices that go out this week will show the increase from the 2015 value to today's. "I imagine we’ll get some feedback but we’ve got a good system in place to address all the feedback we do receive,” Burgess said. “We’re trying to make this for the convenience of the taxpayers. The reappraisal is on the ground floor. We’ve taken the tax collectors office and allocated three of those windows to the appraisal staff.”Staffers will be able to handle basic questions, print out property cards of the parcel someone is asking about and help people find their parcel on tax maps if they choose, she said. “For those people that actually do need to talk to an appraiser we’ll have someone escort them to an appraiser,” she said. “They’ll talk about whatever their issue is and they’ll discuss it with an appraiser. We’ll have someone monitoring to make sure we keep the lines down as much as possible. We try to put ourselves in the taxpayers shoes.”If the state average of 10 percent of the assessments are appealed — the state average — the tax office could be looking at 6,600 phone calls or visits. Burgess says the staff will be ready.“We’re prepared for anything that comes our way,” she said. “We don’t know what to expect at this point. It could be much less.”Asked whether she has an average increase of the increase in the total taxable value compared to 2018, Burgess said the commissioners will hear that first.“I have to share that with commissioners,” she said. “That’s when all those percentages will be finalized.” The first step for taxpayers questioning the county's new value is to file an informal appeal using the form included in the Notice of Assessed Value. (You can also get a form at the tax office or on line.) After an appraiser reviews the informal appeal, the tax office will mail the result to the property owner. An appeal could result in the assessed value “being left unchanged, reduced or increased,” the county tax office says. The next step if the property owner is unsatisfied is to file a formal appeal with the county Board of Equalization & Review. The Board of Equalization & Review will meet as needed from April 15 to May 15. An appeal from the local board goes to the North Carolina Property Tax Commission. Appeals from the state Tax Commission go to the North Carolina Court of Appeals and state Supreme Court.     Read Story »

Henderson County News

Reappraisal Q&A (2)

Why does the county reappraise property? North Carolina law requires counties to reappraise all real property once every eight years but allows reappraisal once every four years. Since 1995, Henderson County has conducted a reappraisal every four years. The county must assess 68,000 parcels. The effective date of the reappraisal is Jan. 1, 2019. Who is responsible for the reappraisal? The assessor, not the Board of Commissioners, is responsible for establishing the assessed value of property; the commissioners, not the assessor, sets the tax rate.N.C. law requires counties to assess real property at its “true value in money, meaning market value.” The assessor sets market value based on “the most recent qualified sale” near the appraisal date. Sales between family members and other non-arm’s length transactions are excluded. Fair market value is what a house or other piece of property would sell for between a willing seller and “a financially able buyer.” How does the assessor establish the value? Henderson County uses a “mass appraisal” process that groups similar properties together based on location, type of construction, age, replacement cost, advantages and disadvantages, zoning and other factors. For property such as apartments or offices, the assessor may base the value on net operating income. The market approach takes into account an arm’s length sale of similar properties. Are there exceptions? Yes. The taxable value is lower when the owner is enrolled in the Present-Use Value Program for farm, horticulture or forestry use. There are also tax relief programs for the elderly, disabled and disabled veterans. Among uses exempt from property taxes are churches and other religious property, schools, nonprofit agencies and government buildings. When will I get my Notice of Assessed Value? It will be mailed on Feb. 12. Can I appeal? Yes. The first step is to file an informal appeal using the form included in your Notice of Assessed Value. (You can also get a form at the tax office or on line.) After an appraiser reviews the informal appeal, the tax office will mail the result to the property owner. An appeal could result in the assessed value “being left unchanged, reduced or increased.” The next step if the property owner is unsatisfied is to file a Formal Appeal with the county Board of Equalization & Review. The Board of Equalization & Review will meet as needed from April 15 to May 15. An appeal from the local board goes to the North Carolina Property Tax Commission. Appeals from the state Tax Commission go to the North Carolina Court of Appeals and state Supreme Court. What are grounds for appeal? The assessed value exceeds or is substantially below market value or the property “has been appraised inequitably as it relates to the market value of comparable properties.” Reasons that are not grounds for an adjustment include the percentage change from the previous value, actual construction cost, the amount of taxes due, financial ability to pay taxes, insurance value or liquidation or salvage value. Does the reappraisal apply in all taxing districts? Yes. Cities and fire districts do not assess property for tax purposes. The county collects taxes for the fire districts and the part of the town of Saluda in Henderson County. Hendersonville, Fletcher, Laurel Park, Flat Rock and Mills River set their own tax rate and bill and collect property taxes in the municipality. Will the county publish a revenue neutral tax rate? Yes, by state law it has to. The revenue neutral rate is the tax rate the county would impose to produce the same amount of revenue it would have received had no reappraisal had occurred. In practice, that means if the gross taxable value of all real property goes up by, say, 10 percent, the revenue neutral rate would be lower than the current tax rate (56.5 cents per $100 value) by a corresponding amount. The Board of Commissioners, not the assessor, establishes the revenue neutral rate. Does the Board of Commissioners have to adopt the revenue neutral tax rate? No, it can adopt a lower or higher rate. When will the Board of Commissioners and cities set the tax rate for their 2019-2020 budgets? By June 30, 2019. When will I get my property tax bill? The bills are mailed in August and become due on Sept. 1, 2019. Property owners have until Jan. 5, 2020, to pay the property tax bill without interest. * * * * * Sources: Henderson County Guide to 2019 Reappraisal, interviews.             Read Story »

Henderson County News

Council OKs talks for six-story hotel on Dogwood lot

The Hendersonville City Council made a big stride to attract a hotel downtown when it selected a Fletcher-based hospitality management company on Thursday to develop a six-story facility on the Dogwood parking lot on North Church Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues.   Read Story »

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