Winston Co Tax Assessor Completes Land Roll

The Winston County Tax Assessor  submitted the Property Roll to the Board of Supervisors on Monday, July 2.  The Property Roll is a list and  summary of the total taxable value for the county. Changes in the total taxable value or the makeup of this value from year to year can have significant impact on local taxes. Due to the recent loss of some industries, there has been concern that the overall tax base would decrease which would likely lead to increased mil levies and higher taxes for property owners.
However, with some mixed results, the overall news is good. While there was a loss of more than $300,000 in real estate values from the previous year, there was a significant increase in taxable personal property. Assessor Larry Woodward indicated that the personal roll increased in assessed value from $33,561,281 to $36,655,592. The majority of this increase could be attributed to car tag purchases which increased from $19.3 million to $22.5 million.
The overall result is an actual increase in the tax base of approximately $2.75 million assessed value. While the various taxing authorities (county, city, schools, etc.) set their own budgets and the mil levies required to collect the funds needed for those budgets, an increase in the overall tax base is a good indicator that overall tax rates will not likely increase significantly or at all.  Individuals may see tax increases due to changes they may have made in their property during the year or due to an  increased individual valuation.
Woodward indicated that the closure and salvage process of the Georgia Pacific property has had some impact on the current tax roll but the bulk of the loss will not be felt until next year. He also noted that while there were few new home and commercial constructions  to add to the property roll, the construction of a significant number of chicken houses had helped to limit the loss of total real estate value.

W. McCully