The 2011 Revaluation of Mecklenburg County properties has been hot news lately, and probably will be for some time. The County has a process in place for you to appeal the value attached to your property. The Notice of Value you got in the mail has the value along the top, and the rest of the form is a step-by-step process to file an appeal.
If you read about technology and talent involved in appraising all 300,000 residential properties, you will understand the quality of the appraisal you received. But you might feel that the appraisal is too high.
OK. You’re welcomed to make your case. Explain on the tear-off form why the County’s appraisal is wrong, and send it in before March 10, 2011. If the Assessor’s Office looks over your case and agrees, you will get a new value in the mail. If the Assessor’s Office thinks it got your value just right, you will get a return notice saying your appeal was denied.
You still have two other opportunities to appeal on a more formal basis, and you can get all the details about doing that at http://reval.charmeck.org.
A couple of interesting things came up this week as the public began reacting to getting their values in the mail. Some of you tried to kick your appeal up a notch by getting local TV or newspapers involved for you. Sorry, we don’t discuss individual properties with anyone except the property owners. Then the Assessor’s Office began getting calls and drop-ins from attorneys representing property owners. Our appraisers are too busy working appeals from residents who are following our stated process to take time out to talk to attorneys about individual cases. We are asking attorneys to use their skills to help you write a good appeal case on your tear-off form. And now a website has popped up promising to give you secret information only they have access to that could save you lots of money. You just have to purchase one of their secret information packages ranging from $98 to $298. You know the old saying – “buyer beware.”
We encourage you to look at our website. It has a ton of great information and tools to help you understand how we arrived at your value. Remember, revaluation is separate from setting the tax rate. That will be done by the Board of County Commissioners in June.
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