Chairman: Unchanged Tax Rate Would Yield $175 Million; Commissioners Won't Keep All

Chairman Skip Alston and county staff told reporters the 2026 revaluation, which produced large assessed-value increases for many residential parcels, would, if the county left the tax rate unchanged, translate into roughly $175 million in additional revenue, and they said commissioners "won't keep it all." The Board of Commissioners has already maintained the county tax rate at 73.05 cents per $100 of valuation; the adopted FY 2025–2026 budget keeps that rate in place.

Guilford County tax officials are mailing roughly 229,980 tax notices in July 2025 to property owners about the revaluation and key deadlines, and Rhino Times reported the Tax Department was in the final stages of reappraising roughly 220,000 properties. The county press release directs taxpayers to pay by Tuesday, September 2, 2025 to receive a 1% early-payment discount on county taxes, lists Tuesday, September 2, 2025 as the due date and Monday, January 5, 2026 as the last day to pay before interest and enforced collections begin.

The reappraisal was set in motion after state data showed Guilford’s sales-assessment ratio fell to 84.95 following the 2022 reappraisal, triggering an earlier cycle under North Carolina rules that require reappraisals at least every eight years; "We were at 84.95," Chavis said. County staff have emphasized the legal and technical drivers behind the current round of valuation updates as they finalize notices for homeowners across Greensboro, High Point and the county’s smaller towns.

The $175 million potential windfall sits against a history of appeal-driven reductions to the tax base. After the last reappraisal, appeals cut Guilford’s real property base by about 1.5 percent, roughly $1 billion, and resolving those appeals took nearly two years. Rhino Times reports county staff are planning for a 3 percent reduction, roughly $2.5 billion, in this cycle because of appeals, and that budget staff will use the adjusted figure when commissioners set tax rates later in the year.

Property taxes account for about 64 percent of Guilford County’s revenue, with sales taxes at 12 percent, federal and state funds 11 percent and user charges 6 percent, a breakdown the county provided in its July 14, 2025 release. That mix helps explain why commissioners’ decisions about the rate and any allocation of revaluation-driven revenue have direct consequences for county services and budget planning.

Rhino Times’ editorial urged a "revenue neutral" approach, lowering the rate to hold tax bills steady, but warned chances of that happening "appear to be nonexistent," adding that the board could leave the rate and "make property owners eat the entire increase." Appeals in this cycle will be handled first at staff level, then by the board, and some high-value commercial cases may proceed to the state Property Tax Commission, a process that previously stretched nearly two years.

Tax questions can be directed to the Guilford County Tax Department at 336-641-3363 or taxdir@guilfordcountync.gov, and the county’s online payment system myGuilfordCounty is available for those preparing to meet the September 2, 2025 deadline.