Forsyth County homeowners recently received notices in the mail about big increases in their property valuations. But officials say the changes may not translate to significantly higher tax bills.
Nearly all Forsyth County properties have increased in appraised value since the last assessment in 2021. On average, they’ve risen by about 55%, though some homeowners saw jumps as high as 300%.
Tax assessor John Burgiss calls the changes unprecedented.
“This is certainly historic in the magnitude of how much the real estate market has changed over the last four years," he says.
But he says this doesn’t necessarily mean that property owners will see correspondingly big jumps in their tax bills. Although taxation is affected by property value, it’s also determined by tax rates, which are decided each year by individual municipalities. Burgiss says historically, when property values have gone up, tax rates have dropped.
“If the typical property went up 55% in the county, and then if the elected officials were able to lower their tax rate a lot, it may be that a good number of folks had a historic swing in seeing their value increase over four years, but it may not be that they pay much of any difference in tax," he says.
Burgiss says rates are usually finalized in June, and tax bills will arrive in July.
Property owners who disagree with their valuations can appeal by filling out the informal appeal form that came with their appraisal notices.