JOHNSTON COUNTY – The County of Johnston, anticipating “sticker shock” for many owners of real estate, has posted a website including videos explaining the process.
County Tax Administrator Jocelyn Andrews told the County Commissioners at their last scheduled meeting of the year on December 2 that Johnston’s taxpayers “will see a much larger increase” than the average 24% resulting from the county’s last revaluation in 2019. “I don’t have that number yet – let me be clear about that,” she said of the current process nearing completion.
“Our goal is to mail notices to all taxpayers by the end of the year or around the first of the (new) year,” she told commissioners.
Ms. Andrews reported increases in neighboring counties that underwent property revaluations a year ago: 52% in Wake County, 56% in Wilson County, and a whopping 70% in suburban Franklin County.
“Johnston County has changed significantly” since our 2019 revaluation,” she emphasized. “Our growth has been substantial.”
Even so, the county’s property owners won’t know what their tax bills will look like until the County Commissioners and Johnston’s town boards set their tax rates when they adopt budgets for 2025-26 in June, Ms. Andrews explained. Those bills are normally mailed out in early August, with payments due without penalty in early January 2026, she noted.
In most cases, our local governing boards will reduce their current tax rates to make their new budgets “revenue neutral” or revised downward to some level that keeps tax bills well under the percentage jump expected from revaluation.
Looking at the bright side of higher revaluations for most Johnstonians, “that means their net worth has gone up considerably,” observed County Commissioner Ted Godwin, a retired banker.
State law requires North Carolina’s counties to undertake property revaluation at least every eight years. Urban counties like Wake moved to four-year revaluations some time ago, and Johnston is in the process of moving to that schedule, with the current revaluation coming six years after the last one and the next one to be done four years from now.
Ms. Andrews said the more frequent schedule will reduce so-called “sticker shock” and prove to be fairer for all taxpayers as Johnston continues its accelerated growth.
Revaluation has no effect on local property taxes due now. The deadline for paying the current year’s bills to avoid late-payment penalties is Monday, January 6.
