Cumberland County property owners are running out of time to file appeals if they believe the county’s tax appraisers over-valued their homes and other property this year.
The deadline to appeal is March 24.
The tax-appraised value of real estate in Cumberland County went up an average of 64.7% between 2017 and 2025, the county tax office reported. This includes more than 143,000 residential, commercial, industrial and other properties.
People who want to appeal their new tax values are directed to fill out an appeal form (download it from this link) and submit it to the tax office.
Property owners are advised to provide evidence to support their assertion that their home was over-valued in the appraisal, such as the sales price of other homes in the neighborhood or a recent independent appraisal. If the home has damage that depresses its value, the owners should include photos of the damage plus an estimated cost of the repairs, the appeal form says.
For more guidance from the county tax office on how to appeal tax values, property owners may call 910-678-7800 or email taxrealestate@cumberlandcountync.gov. They may also visit the tax office in room 543 of the Cumberland County Courthouse, 117 Dick St. (For priority service, property owners should call ahead to schedule an appointment.)
Anyone who wants to tell the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners what they think of the revaluations can speak during the public comment period of the commissioners’ board meeting at 6:45 p.m. Monday in the courtroom of the Historic Courthouse at 130 Gillespie St. in Fayetteville. Speakers must sign up in advance, either in person 15 minutes before the meeting or online via the county’s website.
Law requires new values; homeowners shocked at increases
State law requires North Carolina counties to conduct new appraisals of local real estate at least once every eight years to ensure that property taxes are levied based on every property’s market value.
Cumberland County last re-appraised the tax value of properties in 2017 — and values went down 2.9% overall that year in the wake of a long-depressed local housing market.
Since 2017, the community’s housing market has strongly rebounded in sales prices.
Now homeowners are dismayed because tax appraisals for residential property jumped on average 86.2%. Some residents said their property values have more than doubled. For example, the tax appraisal for a woman’s home in Haymount went from about $144,000 following the 2017 revaluation to $323,600 this year.
Residents are worried that their property tax bills will rise accordingly. Elected officials have said they anticipate lowering the tax rates to compensate for the higher appraisals. “It would surprise me if the commissioners did not lower the tax rate substantially,” County Commissioner Marshall Faircloth said on March 4 on WFNC radio’s Good Morning Fayetteville show.
Cumberland County lowered its tax rates after values rose in the 2009 tax appraisal.
More frequent appraisals?
Although the law requires appraisals at least every eight year, counties are allowed to do them more often, Faircloth said on WFNC.
“We could do it every year, if we want to. That’d be foolish because it’s too expensive,” he said.
The county commissioners are considering whether to conduct tax appraisals every four years, Commissioners Chair Kirk deViere has said in public appearances, so property owners won’t experience such a wide swing in their property tax values.
Cumberland County used to do tax appraisals every four years, from the late 1980s and into the 1990s, Faircloth said. The frequency was “just depending on what values have been doing.”
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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