Burke County task force reviews CAMA framework, accepts sales-ratio dataset ahead of 2027 revaluation
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Summary
At a Dec. 2 task force meeting, tax office staff demonstrated how the county's CAMA model will translate 4,700 qualified sales into market-driven adjustments for the 2027 revaluation and the group voted to accept the county's sales-ratio dataset for further work; staff plans vacant-land pricing by December and to present schedules in late 2026.
Morganton, N.C. ' At a Dec. 2 meeting of the Burke County Tax Revaluation Task Force, county tax office staff laid out how a computer-assisted mass appraisal (CAMA) system will use thousands of recent sales to redraw assessed values ahead of a 2027 revaluation, and the task force moved to accept the county's compiled sales-ratio dataset for continuing work.
Nelson, the tax office presenter, told the task force: "The goal is to walk you through the process of a reevaluation and sort of build up the case for how we come up with values and that it's not sort of a random black box." She said the office has organized the county's 60,000 parcels into 13 townships and roughly 1,000 market areas and is using those market-area groupings to apply land pricing, size adjustments and building-grade factors uniformly.
Why it matters: the presentation mapped how the tax office's 2023 schedule of values will be adjusted so assessed values match market values in 2027, a statutory objective of revaluations. Nelson said staff is using 4,700 "qualified" arm''s-length sales collected since 2023 as the primary evidence base, including 229 commercial/industrial and 4,493 residential sales.
How the model works: Nelson demonstrated a parcel example and said county staff use three broad components'land, building and miscellaneous improvements'plus schedule rates, building-grade adjustments and depreciation to compute replacement cost and then adjust to market. She noted the schedule used for building main-body square footage in 2023 was $115 per square foot and explained that realtor-style per-square-foot numbers differ because CAMA adds land and unheated components separately.
Key data cited by the presenter included: a median sale price-per-square-foot of $153 (average $161), median year built 1978, median vacant-land price about $21,000 per acre and 1,400 vacant-land sales in the dataset. Nelson also said the median sales ratio for vacant land was 0.86 and for improved parcels 0.79, meaning assessed values overall lagged recent sales in many areas.
Task force discussion focused on where adjustments will be required. Members and staff highlighted that lakefront and resort-area properties command higher per-square-foot prices driven by custom finishes and location; staff said market-area adjustments and a planned loosening of the building-size adjustment will help align assessed values with sales in places such as Jonas Ridge and Morganton.
On timing and method: Nelson explained that "trending" (time-adjusting older sales) and "clustering" (grouping market areas with sparse sales) are being used to create reliable samples where sales are uneven; she said clustering is scheduled to finish this week and vacant-land pricing should be ready in December, with final schedules and recommendations to be prepared in October'November 2026 for presentation to the board of commissioners.
Formal actions: the chair called for a motion to accept the county's sales schedule and sales ratios as the basis for the group's work; members moved and seconded the motions and proceeded without extended debate. The transcript records the motions and their seconding but does not include a roll-call vote tally; the group then moved on to close the meeting.
Other notes: Brian Smith, one of two newly appointed task force members introduced at the meeting, said he is a Burke County home builder with nearly 30 years'experience and will contribute construction-related perspective to the schedule discussions. The tax office also said it is using updated aerial and street-level imagery from EagleView to improve parcel sketches and help appraisers identify additions or unfinished work from outside inspections.
Next steps: staff will finish clustering and vacant-land pricing, share detailed township- and market-area schedules in January and continue refining the schedule of values through late 2026 ahead of the 2027 revaluation. The task force set its next meeting for Jan. 6, 2026, at 9:00 a.m.
