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Residents of Watauga County Can Expect New Tax Valuation Notices Towards End of the Month

By Jesse Wood

Jan. 9, 2014. Slated to receive new property tax valuation notices on Jan. 1, residents of Watauga County will continue to wait until the county’s IT department resolves a software malfunction that is preventing the printing of notices, Watauga County Tax Administrator Larry Warren said on Thursday.

An extensive process conducted during 2013, appraisers valued roughly 48,500 properties. The last time a revaluation took place was 2006 – before the Great Recession arrived. The Watauga County Board of Commissioners postponed the reval as long as the law allowed in hopes that property values would rebound.

Warren is scheduled to formally present the new values to the Watauga County Board of Commissioners at its Jan. 21 meeting. While Warren said the commissioners should be pleased with the incoming revenue to be had from property taxes, he is not releasing specific figures until after the commissioners review the data.

Earlier in the year, Warren said the tax office expected property values in Blowing Rock and Beech Mountain to be a “little depressed” compared to 2006 levels. Now, Warren said that while Blowing Rock values did decline, it wasn’t “as bad as we were fearing.”

As for the software malfunction, Warren expects the printer issue to be resolved by the end of the month.