By Jesse Wood
All property owners in Watauga County should have received their property tax bills from the Watauga County Tax Department earlier this month.
Watauga County Tax Administrator Larry Warren said that the real property taxed in Watauga County is valued at $8,435,108,248. This is a snapshot of property values as of Jan. 1, 2016.
Tax levied on this amount of property is $26,534,889, which about 1 percent increase over the last fiscal year according to Warren. Watauga County’s tax rate is one of the lowest in the state at about 31.3 cents per $100 of value.
Last year, revenue’s generated from property taxes represented about 60 percent of total revenues in Watauga County’s budget. Last year, the Watauga County Tax Department collected at a 98.76 percent rate.
Payment is due by Jan. 5, 2017. The tax department offers payment plans. If the taxes aren’t paid in full by Jan. 5, then 2 percent interest will be charged for the first month and three-quarters of a percent each month thereafter.
For more info, call the Watauga County Tax Department at 828-265-8021.