New property tax values coming to Jackson

fr jaxtaxesThe yardstick Jackson County will use to calculate property values next year is up for discussion at a public hearing 5:40 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, at the Jackson County Administration Building.

Lower values lead to higher taxes in Macon

taxesMacon County property taxes will be going up next year as the value of property values has decreased by almost $2 billion.

A spoonful of reality helps Macon property values go down

fr maconrevalIt’s been two weeks since new property values hit the mailboxes in Macon County, but there’s nary a line to be seen at the county property appraisal office.

Only 400 appeals have trickled in so far. The last property revaluation in Macon County saw a whopping 4,000 appeals.

What you really want to know when new property values arrive in the mail

Mailboxes across Macon County were blanketed with new property value notices this week, the first countywide appraisal since 2007. 

As you ripped open the envelope, there were probably two things on your mind: 

Meet Richard Lightner, the eagle eye of Macon’s reval

fr lightnerRichard Lightner isn’t one for nostalgia.

For nearly 30 years, he’s been running the property reval show in Macon County. But there’s not much he misses about the old days.

Macon’s reval: unplugged and uncensored

The time of reckoning is finally here.

Macon County’s first countywide assessment of real estate values since the bust came out this week, and it’s full of surprises. For starters, your property values probably didn’t go down as much as you thought they would.

The quest for the perfect comp

fr compsSome weeks Tommey Allen spends more time behind the wheel than a long-haul trucker.

It’s not all driving time though. Most of it is just idling along the curb, parked on the roadside and sitting in driveways. Over the past two years, Allen and the rest of the Macon County appraisal team have scouted every inch of road — paved, gravel, dirt or otherwise — to size up all 44,000 parcels of property and ultimately make a prognostication of what they’re worth.

Macon finalizes property values

Macon County’s tying up the loose ends on a property revaluation that will likely cause tax hikes for some and breaks for others, and the county’s tax director gave commissioners a heads up that they’ll probably be getting some phone calls over the next few months. 

Round three: Haywood County takes on political adversary in property value dispute

A challenger in the Haywood County commissioner race lost ground last week in a fight with the county over his property values, a three-year dispute laced with political overtones.

Denny King claims the county incorrectly pegged the value of his home and land, which in turn determines his property tax bill. King has accused the county of mass errors in a countywide property revaluation conducted in 2011, a criticism that is a cornerstone of his campaign for county commissioner.

Signs of the pending bust were overlooked

A Main Street law office without windows is an odd place for a such a good view.

But Waynesville attorney Frank Queen has had a front-row seat to the mountains from here, witnessing thousands of acres trade hands — land with scenic vistas, along creeks, in forests, behind gates, on farms, hugging cliffs and tucked in coves — during the real estate boom of the 2000s.

Smokey Mountain News Logo
SUPPORT THE SMOKY MOUNTAIN NEWS AND
INDEPENDENT, AWARD-WINNING JOURNALISM
Go to top
Payment Information

/

At our inception 20 years ago, we chose to be different. Unlike other news organizations, we made the decision to provide in-depth, regional reporting free to anyone who wanted access to it. We don’t plan to change that model. Support from our readers will help us maintain and strengthen the editorial independence that is crucial to our mission to help make Western North Carolina a better place to call home. If you are able, please support The Smoky Mountain News.

The Smoky Mountain News is a wholly private corporation. Reader contributions support the journalistic mission of SMN to remain independent. Your support of SMN does not constitute a charitable donation. If you have a question about contributing to SMN, please contact us.