Cleveland NC Town Board Jan 2023 - Property Valuations Mean Taxes Going UP

Cleveland NC town board met tonight 1-9-2023 for the first meeting of 2023. The mayor, board members (except for Commissioner Danny Gabriel), police chief, and town clerks/finance officer were all in attendance. 

Rowan County Tax Assessor Chip Main came to the meeting to let town leaders know that valuations will be higher this year. This, in turn, means that residents and businesses will be paying higher taxes in 2023. In fact, taxes could rise quite a bit this year. 

Main gave a very general example of a $300,000 house in the county being valued at $220,000 during the previous valuation cycle. Increases could be similar, higher, or lower in Cleveland. 

Reappraisals on properties in Cleveland will put land/houses at market value as of 1-1-2023. A number of things are taken into consideration like actual locations and how the market is doing locally. So, it is not possible right now to say how much values will go up (and taxes). But, it is certain that they will go up in this economy. 

Other counties in North Carolina that revalued properties recently had 14-50% increases per Main. So, that suggests that taxes will go up sharply.

Valuations must be done every eight years, and Rowan County opts to do them every four years, so that the sticker shock is not as intense and extreme. 

Notices will come by mail in February. Residents can contest amounts and argue specific cases. Then, the tax bills mail out in July 2023.

There is some relief for the elderly (65 plus) and the permanently disabled with an exclusion of the greater of the first $25,000 or 50% of the permanent residence. In  order to get a tax break, paperwork must be filed by June 1, 2023.

Disabled veterans who are permanently/totally disabled also get a tax break at $45,000 base which would be a large reduction in taxes. Spouses of veterans who have not remarried can also get the reduction.

Information pamphlets were left at Cleveland town hall, so residents who think they may quality should consider checking.

Public Comment

One resident, Annie Boone Carroll, signed up to speak at the meeting tonight. She said that she needed space for a chapel for her funeral home business in town. She said churches were not offering space due to Covid recently, so she needed to offer space in order to keep her business up and running. 

Carroll had two questions. 

Her first was to inquire if she could rent space in the old Junior High School building on Old 70/Main St. or at the old Elementary School building on School St (now the west branch of Rowan Public Library). Mayor Pat Phifer explained that the town did not own those properties and that Carroll would need to check with the owners of those properties about available space.

Carroll's second question was to check if she could expand her business and add a chapel with/on adjoining land. Phifer said to stop by the town hall and talk to Kelly Rodgers about zoning rules and regulations, but he said he thought the land was zoned for business expansion.

Zoning

A proposed zoning change to parcel ZMA111422 will be held at the next town board meeting 2-13-2022. Residents can speak for or against the change.

Board members voted to offer two property owners (Kistler and Kennedy) with delinquent fines for zoning violations a chance to pay $100 each and settle the property concerns. If they fail to settle with the clean up and payment, then the town will follow up with legal action and place liens against the properties.   

Bills

The following payments were approved by town board.

1. $5510 for two fire hydrants. One hydrant was hit by a driver, and the insurance will be paying for that as reimbursement. The second hydrant will be a spare in case anything happens to another hydrant.  

2. $2107 to Tarheel Safe and Lock - The bill apparently was lost at some point, so the company had not been paid. 

3. $57,997 for a new police car - The town had approved buying new vehicles on a regular schedule. Police Chief Jon Jessop said that costs were going up really fast - a $10,00 jump in the vehicle last purchased in just two years. The town could lock in a price now for the vehicle to be purchased next year (when prices would almost surely be even higher), so the board decided to do that.

Jessop also noted that the retired vehicle would be sold to offset costs. The last used vehicle sold brought in around $9000, so it is likely that the next will sell for that or maybe more.

4. $160/month for ice machine - Town board members had been pricing out buying an ice machine versus renting with service included. They decided that maintenance could be really expensive so opted for a service plan. The ice machine will be housed at town hall with the crew at the wastewater treatment plant stopping by to get ice every week for samples for testing. 

Commissioner Richard Taylor said that he would do the cabinet work to make space for the ice machine in the kitchen in town hall. 

Commissioner Reports

Taylor said work on the town park trail would resume on the 23rd of the month. Work has been on hold due to the cold temperatures. 

Someone stole the trail camera at the town park. The board will look at replacing that later.

Commissioner Gerald Osborne said that water/sewer projects were on track and that the town had done well over the cold snap. The old junior high building had a bad leak as did another property.

Commissioner Travis Summitt said maintenance was looking at securing the new decorative street signs which are turning in the wind.  

Mayor Pat Phifer said that he was meeting a group about the Brown property. He said he was not getting his hopes up, because he has met several groups about that property. 

Phifer said that he had a meeting with five local churches. He said he plans to meet with the churches monthly and that the town of Cleveland would build on a church "foundation." Any and all churches are invited per Phifer. 

Commissioner John Bradford said he had "nothing tonight," and Gabriel was not at the meeting.

Police Stats for December 2022

Jessop noted the following for the Cleveland PD:

50 calls for service

43 traffic stops

30 traffic citations

21 warning tickets

2 warrants

3 arrests

4 traffic accidents

1 check point with the Booze It or Lose It campaign

Other Town Business

Phifer and Summitt have been serving on the Centralina Council of Governments. The board voted to have them continue in those roles. 

Town employees who had reached six months of service were evaluated and given a 5% raise.