Tagged: property taxes

Think about this for a moment - back in 1960, the entire city of Charlotte was just 35 square miles.  Today it's more than 300 square miles. That's a 700 percent expansion as one neighborhood after another got swallowed up through annexation.

But now, there's not much land left to annex and recent changes to state law will make future annexation much harder.  No big deal, right?  Many people think Charlotte's plenty big. What few realize is the role annexation has played in the city's budget and tax rates over the years. WFAE's Julie Rose explains.

As the Charlotte City Council works to find agreement on a proposed tax increase to pay for infrastructure improvements, Mayor Anthony Foxx is pitching his preferred approach in town hall meetings across the city. Thursday night, he ventured into unfriendly territory at the Ballantyne Hotel where a crowd of about 100 challenged his proposal. 

Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx is convening a special meeting of the city council Thursday to re-start debate over raising taxes to pay for streets, sidewalks and a streetcar.

Three months ago, Mayor Foxx's plan to boost the property tax rate by 3 and a half cents and use the money for nearly a $1 billion worth of projects, collapsed in a series of surprise city council votes.

Foxx hasn't let it drop since - even taking the opportunity to nudge council members during the groundbreaking of an uptown stadium a few weeks back.

Property tax bills are going out this week to Mecklenburg County residents, even though the assessor's office is still working through a tidal wave of appeals filed to last year's revaluation.

That old Ben Franklin saying about death and taxes being the only certain things in life is apt this week as 2012 property tax bills arrive in Mecklenburg County mailboxes. Also certain? Complaints.

"We're prepared for that," says Mecklenburg County Tax Assessor Garrett Alexander.

Persistent complaints about the 2011 property revaluation in Mecklenburg County enters a new phase this week. A private auditor, hired by the county to investigate the revaluation process, will hold a series of six public meetings. The first is Monday night in Matthews.