Unfortunately, there has been some confusion regarding Gaston County’s property valuations and property tax collections. Because of that, we believe it is important to clarify a few facts.

First, Gaston County did not fail to collect any annual property tax revenue.

Property taxes in North Carolina do not work in a way that would allow revenue to simply go missing unless taxes were not being collected. That is not what occurred. Gaston County collects more than 99 percent of the property taxes billed each year, which places the County among the highest collection rates in the state.

The confusion appears to be related to how some commercial and industrial properties were valued during the 2023 reappraisal.

A property reappraisal does not, by itself, determine how much property tax revenue the County chooses to raise. The Board of Commissioners adopts a budget and then establishes a tax rate. That tax rate is applied to the County’s total assessed property value to generate the revenue necessary to fund the adopted budget.

The reappraisal determines the assessed value of individual properties and, as a result, how the overall tax responsibility is distributed among residential, commercial, and industrial property owners.

When the 2023 Schedule of Values was developed, commercial real estate markets had experienced unprecedented disruption and an uneven recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Market conditions varied significantly by property type. Office, retail, and hospitality properties continued to face uncertainty, while industrial and warehouse properties generally experienced stronger demand.

The limited number of comparable sales, differences among property types, and rapidly changing market conditions made commercial property values more difficult to predict than residential property values. The County made a judgment call to be conservative in the approach to commercial and industrial values that were still recovering and very volatile because of Covid-19. This approach resulted in the commercial and industrial values being approximately 6.5% lower in value than residential which was more predictable and less volatile at the time. 

County Tax staff used the best market information available at the time and developed property values using recognized mass-appraisal methods and accepted professional appraisal standards. However, it is also fair to acknowledge that this was an unusually uncertain and rapidly changing real estate market that required professional judgment and not just quantitative analysis.

We have included charts showing commercial and industrial sales ratios from 2021 through today. As the local economy has continued to strengthen, those ratios have declined, indicating that market conditions and property values have changed since the last reappraisal.

During the upcoming public meetings for the 2027 reappraisal, the Tax Office will explain these trends in greater detail. Based on current market conditions, we expect many commercial and industrial property values to increase so they more accurately reflect today’s market.

The issue is not that Gaston County lost or failed to collect property tax revenue. The issue is how the total tax responsibility was distributed among residential, commercial, and industrial property owners based on professional judgment and the market information available at the time of the 2023 reappraisal.

Gaston County remains committed to conducting fair, accurate, and legally compliant property reappraisals. We will continue using recognized appraisal standards, sound professional judgment, and the best available market information to ensure property values are determined as fairly and consistently as possible.