Wake County tax administrator warns affordable-housing exemption and brownfield rules have cost Raleigh millions

Wake County’s tax administrator told Raleigh City Council on March 17 that a trio of developments — unresolved appeals from the 2024 revaluation, a large spike in brownfield exclusions and rapid growth in multifamily affordable‑housing tax exemptions tied to nonprofit/for‑profit ownership structures — have reduced the city’s FY26 tax base and could shave millions from the FY27 forecast.

“On the residential side and on the commercial side we’ve lost value,” Marcus Kinrade, Wake County’s tax administrator, said in a detailed presentation to council and staff. He said the county’s work found roughly $2.2 billion in apartment value had been exempted countywide in 2025 and that the city’s share of that loss is significant. He told the council that, as of the briefing, the city had seen about $672 million in apartment value removed from the tax rolls and that exemptions newly in the pipeline could reduce city tax receipts by roughly $2.95 million for FY27 under current rates.

Kinrade outlined three drivers of the shortfall. First, a high volume of…