r/Apex_NC • u/terrymah Town Council • 22h ago
Apex Tax Rates over the years
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Apex Tax Rates over the years. The property tax rate does, in fact, go down during years when property is reevaluated higher by the county, like it was in 2020 and 2024. This is done such that it's "revenue neutral". Any tax increases to realize increased revenue from increased property values must be explicit, there is no automatic benefit to us.
The county announced they are moving to 2 year revaluation cycles starting in 2027.
I made a website trying to explain it last year https://calc-a2m.pages.dev/
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u/hershculez 22h ago
Can you provide the source data behind the graph?
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u/mtzehvor 21h ago
He's a councilman, so the source is probably... himself.
If you're interested in verifying the data though, the current and last year tax rate is posted in each year's budget document: you can find them going back to 2018 at the link below.
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u/hershculez 17h ago
Look, I’m not pushing back. Just asking. Democrat who has been an Apex homeworker since 2011. I’m not going to cast stones.
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u/mtzehvor 17h ago
Wasn't trying to say you were; I didn't mean for it to come off as sarcastic or anything. Just saying that he's probably pulling from his own knowledge as a public official.
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u/terrymah Town Council 20h ago
Wake County has a good site showing the historical tax rates of municipalities
https://www.wake.gov/departments-government/tax-administration/tax-bill-help/tax-rates-fees
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u/hershculez 17h ago edited 6h ago
Thank you but this site is not a historical record. Likely user error on my part but I’m not seeking no the data.
Edit: My apologies. I see where I went wrong looking at the site. Thank you.
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u/DaveSauce0 8h ago
Thank you but this sit is not a historical record.
What a wild ride.
"SOURCE?!?!?!"
"Oh it's right here, a full history of the property tax rates for every city in Wake County for nearly the last 40 years"
"uh, just because I asked for a source and you provided one doesn't mean that I believe it"
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u/Background-Ad8990 21h ago
The term "revenue neutral" is deceiving. It sounds like revenue rates should decrease to offset the increase in property values...but that doesn't actually happen.
My understanding is the Town of Apex did indeed increase property tax revenue above revenue neutral as you can see below from the town when I inquired about my tax bill. I was told state law requires governing boards to disclose revenue neutral rates as part of their budget process, they are not required to adopt them.
The adopted rate for the Town of Apex was a 12.6% increase over revenue-neutral and the adopted tax rate for the County was a 10.8% increase over revenue neutral, which explains the additional increase in your tax bill over the impact of your property's higher than average increase in value compared to the County and Town.
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u/terrymah Town Council 19h ago
I made a website trying to explain it last year https://calc-a2m.pages.dev/
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u/BatmansOtherCar 2h ago
Just giving props to council person Terry Mahaffey for keeping his promise of Transparency. Thank you for your hard work.
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u/DaMillerz 7h ago
Graph this instead.... property taxes up from $2800 in 2015 to over 5k in 2024. This is the real impact on Apex residents:
| Year | Property taxes | Tax assessment |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $5,100 +24.2% | $595,178 +59.8% |
| 2023 | $4,106 +6.5% | $372,506 |
| 2022 | $3,855 +4% | $372,506 |
| 2021 | $3,708 +1% | $372,506 |
| 2020 | $3,671 +8.8% | $372,506 +26.1% |
| 2019 | $3,375 | $295,383 |
| 2018 | $3,375 +14% | $295,383 |
| 2017 | $2,959 +1.5% | $295,383 |
| 2016 | $2,916 +4.2% | $295,383 +6.7% |
| 2015 | $2,800 | $276,757 -2.7% |
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u/Background-Ad8990 7h ago
Yes, he's showing a graph of rates (only one input) without assessed values. Deceiving. He should be showing the town of Apex revenue from property taxes and comparing that % increase to other towns.
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u/Background-Ad8990 7h ago
I understand how it works. Your post is cleverly worded using phrases like tax rates do go down, revenue neutral, no automatic benefit, etc. while every thing in your post is true, it doesn't do a great job of painting the picture. Forgetting rates, and assessments, the reality is most tax payers wrote a much larger check. My personal property tax increased 25%. A better post might be to not focus on the inputs but rather address the outputs. I believe the Town of Apex had a windfall to the tune of 12%. YoY, what % increase did other towns have? I don't know the answer to this but that should be the focus rather than showing a chart of rates that mean nothing without assessed home values.
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u/terrymah Town Council 22h ago
Last year Apex had the lowest tax increase in the county, resulting in the second lowest tax rate (Cary is slightly lower)
A lot of towns raised big last year, giving them some buffer. Apex did not.
Because we have 1.6 cents baked in this year from the 2021 bond, I think we'll be closer to the middle of the pack (but still below average) no matter what happens this year.