By John Spruill
There is a lot happening in Raleigh right now around property taxes, and I want to make sure the people of Washington County and Eastern North Carolina understand what is being discussed — and what it could mean for your wallet and your local government.
Let me start with what is already moving. The North Carolina House Select Committee on Property Tax Reduction and Reform, chaired by Destin Hall, met this past week and advanced a proposed constitutional amendment. If the full House and Senate can each pass it by a two-thirds majority — and that is a significant if, given how little the two chambers have agreed on lately — this amendment would appear on your ballot this November. If voters approve it, the General Assembly would be required to establish a cap limiting how much local governments can raise property taxes in any given year.
Here is what concerns me: you would be voting on a concept, not a defined policy. The actual cap — what it is, how it works, what it protects and what it restricts — would not be spelled out until the General Assembly returns for its long session in 2027. I do not say this lightly, but it reminds me of what was said about the Affordable Care Act: pass it, and then find out what is in it. That is not how consequential policy affecting every county in this state ought to work.
Now, I want to be clear. I am not saying property tax reform is unnecessary. The problem driving all of this is real, and it is serious. Property valuations are soaring across North Carolina — in many areas rising 50 to 60 percent — while inflation has run somewhere around 30 percent. When your home’s assessed value jumps from $200,000 to $300,000 and your county commissioners do not lower the tax rate to compensate, you end up paying dramatically more. For families already living paycheck to paycheck, that hits hard. That is a legitimate problem that deserves a real solution.
But there is already a safeguard built into our system for exactly this kind of problem, and it is called an election. If your county commissioners are raising your property taxes in ways you find unreasonable, you vote them out. You elect people who will bring rates back down to where they ought to be. That accountability mechanism has worked in North Carolina for generations, and it should not be discarded lightly in favor of a constitutional provision whose details will be written later by legislators in Raleigh.
On the Senate side, Phil Berger has announced plans to introduce a bill during the short session that would impose a 12-month moratorium — a complete freeze — on any property tax movement across the state. The intent is to give the legislature time to sort through the policy questions carefully, and I appreciate that goal. But I have serious reservations about the approach.
What happens to a county that has taken on a $20 million school debt obligation? What happens when law enforcement salaries need to increase, or when aging EMS equipment has to be replaced? Essential services do not pause because Raleigh has frozen the tax rate. A blanket moratorium takes decision-making authority away from the local officials who are closest to the needs of their communities, and it does so without regard for the genuine fiscal obligations those governments are already carrying.
My recommendation is straightforward: take the 12 months, study the issue thoroughly, gather input from county commissioners and citizens across the state, and then draft a constitutional amendment that is fully defined — one where voters know exactly what they are approving before they cast a ballot. Do not ask the people of North Carolina to vote on a blank check.
Reform may well be needed. But the reform has to be done right. If your commissioners are raising taxes frivolously — for projects that are wants rather than needs — then hold them accountable at the ballot box. That is how representative government is supposed to work.
I will continue to monitor what is happening in Raleigh and report back to you as this process develops. The people of Eastern North Carolina deserve to know exactly what is coming — and I intend to make sure they do.
John Spruill is Chairman of the Washington County Board of Commissioners.