Voters in two Western North Carolina counties are answering two very different questions about their property taxes this midterm election: Whether to raise them, and whether to limit how much they can go up.
Local bond issues in Buncombe and Henderson Counties would mean higher property taxes. A statewide constitutional amendment would require lawmakers to limit property tax increases, but it leaves key details unanswered.
On the ballot, voters will see: “Constitutional amendment requiring limits on property tax increases by local governments.”
The amendment itself doesn’t specify what the limit would be. It simply tells lawmakers to create one and allows for exceptions. Chris McLaughlin, a professor at the UNC School of Government who specializes in local government tax and finance, said the amendment’s vagueness leaves nearly everything unknown.
“Who knows what they might do or not do, or when they would do it, is completely up in the air, because there are no details at all in that proposed amendment,” he said.
The General Assembly’s Republican majority voted in May to put the amendment on the ballot.
On Oct. 20, Buncombe County commissioners unanimously passed a resolution urging voters to reject the amendment. They said limits would make it harder for counties to respond to disasters like Hurricane Helene, provide basic services and make up for what they call inadequate state funding for schools. Property taxes make up 69% of Buncombe’s general fund revenue this fiscal year.
McLaughlin said lawmakers don’t need the amendment to act.
“The General Assembly could adopt a property tax levy limit tomorrow if it wanted to,” he said. “There is no constitutional amendment needed, even if this amendment were to fail.”
State law already caps local property tax rates at $1.50 per $100 of property value, and McLaughlin said no county has ever come close to the cap.
On the same ballot, Buncombe County voters will decide two bond questions: $40 million for affordable housing and $30 million for open space, parks and greenways. The county estimates the housing bond would cost the median homeowner about $25 a year and the open space bond about $18 a year.
In Henderson County, voters will decide on a $25 million bond to preserve farmland. The county estimates it would raise the property tax rate by up to about 1 cent per $100 of assessed value.
“It’d be interesting to see how many voters vote in favor of the local bond referendum, but then also vote in favor of property tax levy limits,” McLaughlin said. “It’d be an interesting coalition. They’re, on the face of it, slightly contradictory votes, but who knows?”
Under current state law, the property taxes that counties collect to repay voter-approved bonds don’t count against the $1.50 rate cap. The proposed amendment doesn’t say whether bond payments would be exempt from a new limit. That’s another detail left to lawmakers. If bond payments aren’t exempt, they would count toward how much a county’s property tax collections could grow, potentially leaving less room for everything else the county funds.
Early voting ends at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
