GREENSBORO, N.C. — Anthony Reaves is more than proud of the home he and his wife own in Greensboro. The land has been in his wife’s family for years.
“My father-in-law purchased (the land) after WWII,” Reaves said.
The land is broken up into three separate parcels near Alamance Church Road in Greensboro. Two of the three lots are open with trees dotting the landscape. The other lot is where Reaves and his wife built their house.
“My wife and I were the contractors, we picked the design and hired the sub-contractors,” Reaves explained.
The home and the adjoining land have served them well through the years, but this year, Reaves noticed something was off with the tax bill. The property tax bill was a lot higher than in years past.
“We got out tax bill like we normally do, and we noticed there was a 500 percent increase in our taxes,” Reaves said.
The tax bill for all three properties jumped significantly, but the increase on two empty lots was dramatic. The bills went from $52 and $87 to more than $400. The total for all three properties was almost $2,200 when it was less than $1,500 last year.
“We were shocked. This puts a strain on senior citizens,” he said.
It didn’t take long before Reaves filed a complaint and reached out to the Guilford County Tax Office for answers. Reaves said he filed an appeal for the taxes on the two wooded lots.
“We (didn’t) get an explanation,” Reaves added.
Reaves said he spoke with several people in the tax office about getting the issue resolved. He eventually reached out to News 2 for some help.
We immediately contacted the Guilford County Tax Department and looked at the previous bills and the plot maps of the lots. The wooded lots are less than an eighth of an acre.
A representative with the tax office was quick to return our calls and had someone investigate the issue. It didn’t take long before we received a call informing us that a mistake had been made and the property tax for the two wooded lots was adjusted.
The county sent Reaves a notice about the adjustment which reduced his bill quite a bit. The new bill showed a total property tax for the two lots at $286 compared to $911. The representative told us that adjustments on the property were removed prior to the assessment. The lots in this neighborhood have assessed a value of $30,000. When the tax bill initially went out, it was prior to the adjustments being reinstated.
Once Anthony brought it to the tax department's attention, the adjustments were re-established, and the property values and taxes dropped.
“Thank you, thank you,” Reaves said.
If you think your property tax bill is too high, you can always file an appeal and the county will take a second look at the property value and tax.