Did your property value assessment skyrocket? Here’s what will happen to your taxes

Some Horry County residents are not happy with recent news that their property value increased based on a recent reassessment.

Residents shared on social media that some of their property values increased more than 20 percent a result of the 2019 property reassessment based off Dec 31, 2018, real market values. But a 20 percent increase in home value does not mean your property taxes will go up by the same amount.

Here are some answers to common questions:

How much more will I pay in taxes?

A lot of factors go into how much you’re taxed, but typically the millage rate determines what percent of your property’s value you have to pay in property taxes each year. Even if your property value increases it is ultimately the rate at which you’re taxed that determines if it goes up or down.

This is set by elected leaders, not property assessors.

“The amount you pay in taxes is a political issue, I am not a politician,” Horry County Assessor Lawrence Roscoe said.

Roscoe, whose office is responsible for the assessments, said assuming the millage rate stays the same, a good metric to see how much your taxes will go up is to subtract what your property is worth now minus what is was worth in the past. So if a $100,000 house was reassessed to be worth $108,000, your taxes would roughly go up by 8 percent compared to last year.

The average resident pays about $600 in property taxes, Roscoe said, so he expects the average increase from the reassessment to come out to be around $60 or $80 in the new bill.

But if your property value increased by more than $150,000, state law mandates that taxes do not increase by more than 15 percent each year. Still, figuring out how much exactly your taxes will go up will depend on a few factors moving forward.

“There are a lot of forces acting in concert. While some will increase taxes others will drive them down,” Roscoe said.

To make sure the reassessment doesn’t become a money grab, the state law requires a millage rollback so that the county is still collecting the total amount of money it did before the reassessment.

So while some property owners’ taxes will increase, the total amount of money collected by the county will stay the same unless council or the school board decides to raise property taxes and increase the millage rate.

Why did we reassess properties?

The reassessment was completed by certified county staff specializing in appraisals. They looked at the obvious increases in home value like building a pool or shed, but appraisers also took into account the overall desirability of the area people live in by evaluating prices at which homes were sold and the state of the economy.

The data was put into a mass appraisal system that ultimately determined how much the property values changed across every piece of land in Horry County.

Essentially, any increases in one area’s property taxes are a result of a loss or insignificant raise of property values in other areas discovered during the reassessment period.

Fairness is the stated reason for the state-mandated reassessment, and Roscoe said your reassessment notice is not necessarily the same thing as a new tax bill.

According to state law, South Carolina requires counties to reassess property values every five years to make sure folks are paying their fair share. The information from the reassessments will be used to determine how much your taxes change, but it does not mean any increase or decrease in your taxes will be proportionate to the change in market value.

Since some taxable properties will go down in value through the assessments, people with increased property value will have to make up the difference to keep revenues stable, according to Horry County’s website.

Many areas in the county are growing quickly and home values are increasing. Other areas have not seen growth or have seen home values fall. According to the Horry County website, the reassessment looked at square footage, improvements, water features and even the desirability of the neighborhood to determine what is fair for each property owner.

“Property owners will pay no more or less than their fair share of the property tax burden. Forecasts indicate that some residents may share a greater burden of the property tax due to a this equalization process as some properties have increased in value, some properties have declined in value, and some have stayed about the same,” according to the county’s website. “If your property has increased in taxable value, you will likely receive a higher tax bill.”

How do I appeal my reassessment?

Receiving a letter means your property value increased by more than $1,000. But don’t worry just yet, folks have a way to appeal their assessment if they believe it’s unfair. Roscoe said the point of the appeals is to make sure the county got the appraisal correct and he encouraged anyone who felt wronged to apply.

“It’s just the last step to take input from the public,” Roscoe said.

If someone feels their reassessment is wrong, there is a way to appeal the decision. People have 90 days after they receive their assessment notice to apply for an appeal. The application can be found on the Horry County Assessor’s website or can be filled out by going to the county courthouse.

On the application, property owners are required to state why they’re appealing. There is also a spot to attach documents arguing why your home’s assessment is wrong. Roscoe said the county is gigantic and while he believes they assessed the average home accurately, there will be outliers.

Roscoe said to include as much proof as you can in these application. He said anything from a leaky roof or an unfinished basement could be a factor appraisers were unaware of but could drop your home value.

This story was originally published July 9, 2019 at 2:33 PM.