2025 Property Taxes!

[David Mickunas]

Good morning,

 

I paid my property taxes on 12/31/2025.  The amount has increased dramatically and without much validity except that it was tied to the increase in my home’s assessed value.  This does not seem to be a reasonable approach since the home’s value will only be realized at the time of sale.  With prices increasing faster than salaries by a significant amount, it will not be sustainable for this practice to continue.  In fact, this practice is currently unsustainable.

I moved here in 2006.  Since then, my taxes have nearly doubled.  My salary hasn’t.  In fact, if it had, I would have needed to make more because federal tax, state tax, medicare deduction, and social security tax would have reduced my earnings by 30% or more.  Therefore, I would have needed to increase my earnings by 143%.

I understand there is a need for taxes for the good of the community, but I will have to leave this community now that I am retired – (retired is not an increase in income).  For the record:

Orange County           $2,829.00        $258,800.00                1.09%              $85,468.00            3.31%

Median property tax is the highest in the state

Median home value is the 2nd highest in the state

% Home value is the 3rd highest in the state

Median income is the highest in the state

% Income is the highest in the state

Is there a reason why Orange County needs to charge 1.09% of the home value and why this is 3.31% of the income – (mine is $4703.63)?  As for the CH-CARR school tax, this is in addition to the money for the county tax (Education 38.08%) – (mine is $1089.88)?  As for the Carrboro Tax – (mine is $4165.79), why is the General Government 25.5% and Public Safety 26.4%?  Assuming my tax is the average for Carroboro and the population is 21300, that means the General Government has a yearly budget of $22,626,488 and the public safety is $23,425,070.  That means each person is charged $1000 a year for general government and another for public safety.

Why hasn’t Chapel Hill and Carrboro combined these functions as they have with everything else?  It seems as though there is a duplication of “services”.  Would there not be an economy of scale for the residence?  Finally, the taxes cannot continue to rise and need to be reduced.

Government needs to be run efficiently.  Chapel Hill and Carrboro governments should be combined.  Taxes should be reduced.  Property taxes need to be evaluated differently.  Should there not be some relief for retirees now living without a salary, since we have paid for schools over our lifetimes that we no longer use today and other services that we use at a more minimum level than a larger household?

 

Regards,

David B. Mickunas

[Jean Hamilton]

Dear Mr. Mickunas,

 

On behalf of the Orange County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), thank you for sharing the impact of the property tax burden you are facing. We know that the increased property taxes from the revaluation and county and town budgets result in many residents, especially those on fixed incomes, having to make hard decisions to pay their taxes.  The BOCC established the Tax Assessment Work Group to review how property revalutions are done to improve the fairness and transparency of our assessment processes.

 

The BOCC approved increased funding of the county Longtime Homeowners Assistance Program (LHAP) to provide some tax help to eligible homeowners. The towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill contribute to the LHAP as well.

In addition, the State of North Carolina has three main property tax relief programs for elderly and/or disabled residents. You can learn about those programs on the Orange County website at https://orangecountync.gov/1787/Property-Tax-Assistance-Programs, call 919-245-2100 (Option 2), or email: taxr...@orangecountync.gov. 

We agree that government should be run efficiently. The BOCC will spend much of our time this spring reviewing actual and projected county government expenditures and revenues to establish the fiscal year 2026-27 Budget and tax rate. There are budget public hearings scheduled for May 12 and May 28. We welcome public feedback at those times, at our business meetings, and by email.  With cuts in Federal spending and state funding uncertainties, this is an especially challenging economic and fiscal climate.  However, commissioners are aware that we need to continue to consider tax burdens during our budget deliberations this spring.

 

Sincerely,

Jean

 

Jean Hamilton, Chair

Orange County Board of Commissioners

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From: David Mickunas <david.b....@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, January 5, 2026 8:36 AM
To: ALL_BOCC_MANAGER_CLERK <OCB...@orangecountync.gov>
Subject: 2025 Property Taxes!

 

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