By Allen Vannoppen for THE PAPER
Burke County is preparing for a sweeping property revaluation process, set to take effect Jan. 1, 2027 — and County Manager Brian Epley says a newly proposed resident-led task force will play a critical role in ensuring transparency, education, and community trust along the way.
The proposed seven-member Revaluation Task Force would include residents with relevant expertise in construction, real estate, appraisal, insurance, and agriculture, as well as members over 55 years of age, and at-large representatives.
Epley presented details of the Task Force proposal to Burke County Commissioners during its July monthly meeting Monday evening. The proposal was unanimously approved.
Appointed by the Board of Commissioners through the standard board application process, the Task Force citizen advisers would help guide the creation of Burke County’s Schedule of Values — the technical document that underpins property tax assessments.
“We know it’s likely going to be a challenge to get to everyone, because this is a very misunderstood topic,” Epley told commissioners. “But we do think that it can increase transparency. We can build trust, help educate, and get meaningful feedback.”
“The revaluation process is a statistical analysis. It’s basic arithmetic,” Epley said. “The thing that drives the process is the Schedule of Values. It’s not a value of opinion — it’s tables, assumptions, and principles that set things like cost per square foot for a brick ranch or a colonial with 10-foot ceilings.”
The task force is expected to meet multiple times over the next 18 months to review data and advise county staff as they develop this detailed valuation framework, Epley said.
Their work will help define land values, structural characteristics, and depreciation schedules that determine how properties across the county are assessed.
Epley said the county plans to adopt the new property tax schedule in November 2026, with a public hearing in August, mirroring the county’s annual budget process.
“We’ve worked backwards from January 2027 and built out the timeline,” he said. “We’re already doing some of the work to hit our deadlines.”
Importantly, Burke County plans to perform the entire revaluation in-house — breaking from past practice of outsourcing the effort. “That decision alone will save taxpayers about a million dollars,” Epley noted.
He emphasized that the process would include the agricultural community through the adoption of Present Use Value rates from NC State’s Cooperative Extension, ensuring consistent standards statewide.
“The goal,” Epley said, “is to produce a highly transparent and meaningful document that reflects real market conditions — and to do it with community involvement every step of the way.”