Hey everyone! I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about our upcoming property tax bills and what’s happening down at the county commissioners' office. If you’ve been watching the news, you know things are a bit up in the air, but I wanted to break down exactly what this means for you as a homeowner (or future buyer!).

Here is the quick scoop on where things stand and how it could impact your wallet.

The One-Year Reprieve

Normally, when the county does a property revaluation and your home value jumps up, your tax bill goes up with it unless the county lowers the tax rate. However, state lawmakers recently stepped in with Senate Bill 889, which effectively delays using Guilford County’s new, higher property values for one year.

The Good News: This means we get a temporary breather on giant valuation jumps hitting our tax bills all at once.

The Catch: Because the county can't rely on those new, higher property values to bring in extra revenue, they are facing an $83.7 million shortfall from their original spending plan.

The Board of Commissioners is holding a special meeting on Thursday, June 25, 2026, to officially adopt a new budget. Right now, they are weighing three main paths:

• Option A (The "Revenue-Neutral" Path): Keeping the current tax rate exactly where it is (73.05 cents per $100 valuation). To do this, the county would have to slash $83.7 million in planned spending, delay capital projects, freeze about 180 vacant county positions, and cut back on things like school funding and housing outreach.

• Option B (The Middle Ground): This is the path County Manager Victor Isler is leaning toward. It would involve a 4-cent tax rate increase. It doesn't fund everything the county wanted, but it prevents the deepest cuts to schools and infrastructure.

• Option C (The Higher Hike): A 6-cent tax rate increase to save more of the county's planned projects and department requests.

What This Means For You

1. Expect a Historically Large Rate Hike Chairman Skip Alston has indicated that the board is currently looking at a 4-cent to 6-cent tax rate increase. To put that in perspective, a 6-cent hike would be the largest nominal rate increase we've seen this century. While it's lower than the 10-cent hike required to fully fund the original budget, it will still mean a noticeably higher annual tax bill for property owners.

2. Delayed Tax Bills Because of all this back-and-forth and the late budget adjustments, expect your property tax bills to be delayed. They likely won't hit your mailbox until mid-August.

3. Keep an Eye on November If you are tired of the volatility in local property taxes, make sure you look at your ballot this fall. The North Carolina General Assembly has placed House Bill 1089 (the Property Tax Levy Limit Amendment) on the November 3, 2026 ballot. If passed by voters, it will allow the legislature to cap how much local property taxes can rise in the future.