Look for notice of property tax reevaluation in your mailbox soon
Price hikes reflect growth over the past four years
On Feb. 1, the Forsyth County Tax Assessor’s Office started sending out letters notifying property owners about the 2025 reappraisal process. And if you live in Winston-Salem, chances are you will see a significant increase in property taxes. In years past, the highest increase was around 50%. This year some will see their taxes go up by more than 300%.
In North Carolina, counties are required to conduct a real estate reappraisal at least once every eight years. Since the mid-1980s Forsyth County has done reappraisals every four years. “As the real estate market changes over time and as we get further away from the reappraisal, then there becomes an imbalance in the property tax system,” said John Burgiss, Forsyth County tax assessor and collector.
“The whole purpose of a reappraisal is to simply bring all four types of property that we tax into 100% of fair market value so that everybody is paying their fair share.”
If the sales ratio or assessment levels falls under 100%, it means the market has increased.
As a guide, appraisers analyze qualified sales to understand the real estate market, then make necessary adjustments to ensure real estate appraisals are accurate, fair and meet statistical guidelines. In addition to meeting assessment levels, the Forsyth County Assessor’s Office must also meet standards around Coefficients of Dispersion (COD) and the Price-Related Differential (PRD), which is designed to ensure equality.
When looking at assessment levels of all residential sales in Winston-Salem in 2024, the typical sales ratio for residential sites and land was 63%. A closer look at the numbers shows that residential sales between $150,000 and $249,000 had an assessment of 60%. Burgiss said the growth over the past four years is the reason for price hikes.
“You may think that’s only 40% lower than 100, but actually to get those properties up to 100% of fair market value their value would have to go up 66%,” Burgiss said. “Everything we’ve seen of the last four years shows phenomenal real estate growth. Most of the growth occurred in 2021 and 2022. There was continued growth in ‘23 and ‘24, just not at the same pace. A tremendous amount of change has been experienced in the real estate market. We will reflect that in our evaluations, and you will see significant changes in valuations.”
Appraised value changes show that about 85% or more than 89,000 people who own parcels of land in Winston-Salem will see their property tax increase between 20% and 150%; while only about 3% will see a decrease or no change in their property taxes.
“Again, our job is to reflect what the market has done, it’s not us creating the market … it’s us following the transactions over the last several years,” explained Burgiss while giving a presentation during the city council meeting earlier this week.
It is important to note that properties that receive tax exemptions will not see the amount of tax relief on their appraisal notice. Some properties will receive a “Value Pending Notice,” which represents unfinished work on building permits, mapping changes, or historic exemptions. Once value is established, a regular valuation notice will be sent.
If you have received your reappraisal notice from the Forsyth County Tax Assessors Office and you believe the value is incorrect, you are encouraged to file an appeal. Appeal forms should be included with the notice and must be submitted within 30 days of the date printed on the notice. Formal appeal forms can also be obtained online https://forsyth.cc/tax/ in person (201 North Chestnut Street) or by phone (336-748-3000). All appeals must be filed by June 30.
