Orange County tax office details revaluation review as residents press appeals

Orange County tax office staff on July 8 described ongoing work to review the county's 2025 property revaluation, saying a third-party vendor is analyzing vertical equity and time‑adjusted sales while county appraisers continue neighborhood-level reviews and processing appeals.

The tax office presentation, given to the Board of County Commissioners by tax office staff Nancy Freeman, said the vendor is comparing 2024 and 2025 valuations, calculating median and mean sales ratios, the coefficient of dispersion (COD), and the price‑related differential (PRD). Freeman said the vendor"had some preliminary results" and that "our hope is to have that information as early as tomorrow"; she said the county expects to bring results to the Board of Equalization and Review before returning findings to the commissioners in September.

Why it matters: County residents will receive tax bills based on the revaluation, and many say increases will make homeownership unaffordable. The county's review is aimed at identifying statistical irregularities that could signal biased valuations and at making neighborhood corrections before tax bills are finalized.

What the county presented - Scope and methods: The vendor will run vertical equity analyses for residential and nonresidential property, compare 2024 vs. 2025 values by building and land types, and compute PRD, COD and median sales ratios by strata including building type, land use, age and quintiles by value. Freeman explained the Department of Revenue standard for the median sales ratio (0.90to1.10) and IAAO guidance ranges for COD (roughly 5to25) and PRD (0.98to1.03). - Time adjustment: The vendor will calculate time adjustments from county sales; county staff also noted an internal, illustrative monthly factor drawn from Redfin (0.065) for some comparisons. Deputy Assessor Chad Phillips said the vendor is "actually calculating the time adjustment for the sales in the study," not using the Redfin statewide rate for the vendor's primary work. - Neighborhood follow-up: The tax office said it has identified 44 neighborhoods internally for additional review and is also examining 20 neighborhoods recommended by the Orange County Property Tax Justice Coalition. Freeman described use of PRB (price‑related bias) as a second check and said appraisers will do targeted follow-up when statistical indicators remain outside acceptable ranges. - Appeals and corrections: As of June 30 the tax office reported 3,462 informal appeals and 366 formal appeals, with 2,561 appeals completed. The office said 1,403 of the completed cases resulted in a change; 30 of those were increases. Freeman described a neighborhood correction already made: after an error identified in Chestnut Oaks was corrected, the Board of Equalization and Review on June 12 approved changes affecting about 45 parcels and the county mailed value‑change notices to affected owners.

Public concerns and reactions Residents, housing advocates and neighborhood representatives urged faster and more granular corrections and said many appeals either were denied or resulted in adjustments far smaller than residents expected. - Beverly Walton, a resident of Morris Hill, said, "If we take this community from the people that have given their blood, sweat, and tears to build it through taxation, ... you have to have insurance on your homes. My home is old. It has not been renovated." Walton and other speakers told commissioners they fear displacement as values and taxes rise. - Hudson Vaughn of the North Carolina Housing Coalition said county and outside analyses indicate "Black communities with 3 times the increase in value compared to white communities with the same market increase," and urged the county to work with neighborhoods to correct disparities rather than treating the analysis as proof the county has no problem. - Christine Abernathy, director of housing justice at the Marion Cheek Jackson Center, said appeals submitted with photos and comparable sales evidence were being denied or returned with minimal adjustments; she urged the board and tax staff to "act with urgency for the people that are going to get these tax bills in August and September."

County staff response and next steps Freeman described the vendor study and said the county will review the vendor's findings, perform neighborhood-level checks where PRD/PRB flag issues, and, where appropriate, take corrected valuations to the Board of Equalization and Review for formal changes and subsequent notice to property owners. She said the county aims to finish internal reviews and return results to the commissioners in mid‑September (tentatively Sept. 16).

The tax office reiterated that the informal appeals process relies on evidence submitted by property owners; staff said formal appeals include field visits. Freeman said the office had completed about 350 field reviews for informal appeals to date and stressed that additional documentation from appellants speeds correction. Deputy Assessor Chad Phillips and tax office staff said they will provide the vendor study to commissioners as soon as it is available.

What was not decided The board did not take a policy vote on rate relief or other short‑term tax relief measures at the meeting. Several commissioners said the county manager will convene a longer-term working group this fall to explore other tools and options beyond the immediate technical review.

Ending note Commissioners and staff said they will continue to process appeals through the July 31 formal appeal deadline and to prioritize neighborhood reviews flagged by statistical tests and community submissions; the county expects to present the vendor's detailed results and any recommended neighborhood value adjustments this fall.