Orange County to help homeowners pay rising property tax bills. See if you qualify.
Orange County homeowners who are struggling to pay their increasing property tax could get some relief through a new county program.
The Orange County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to set aside $250,000 in federal American Rescue Plan Act money to pay for a pilot Longtime Homeowner Assistance program.
“Right now, I’m glad that we can make it happen so that folks can stay in their homes,” Commissioners Chair Renee Price said.
The county will launch the program Friday and take applications until 5 p.m. Dec. 15. Interested residents can get more information and apply online at orangecountynchousing.submittable.com/submit.
Applications also can be picked up at the Orange County Housing and Community Development Department offices at 300 W. Tryon St., third floor, in Hillsborough, and at 2501 Homestead Road in Chapel Hill. Once completed, they can be placed in drop boxes outside the Housing and Community Development offices or mailed to Orange County Housing and Community Development, P.O. Box 8181, Hillsborough, NC 27278
The program will help pay this year’s increase in a homeowner’s property tax bill and only be available to residents who have lived in their homes for 10 years or more. To qualify, residents can only earn up to 80% of the area median income: $48,400 a year for a single person to $69,100 for a family of four.
Orange County’s program is similar to tax programs already in place in Durham and Charlotte, as well as a new program launched this week by the Durham County Department of Social Services and the Durham County Tax Office. The Durham County program offers tax relief to homeowners earning up to 30% of the area median income — $18,150 a year for an individual to $26,500 for a family of four.
Orange County residents can get help applying for the Longtime Homeowner Assistance program from the Housing Helpline at 919-245-2655 or via email at HousingHelp@orangecountync.gov.
The Housing and Community Development Department would pay a credit to the tax office for each eligible taxpayer’s bill.
Rising homeowner tax bills
Assistant County Manager Travis Myren estimates the program could help about 14% of the county’s homeowners, or 1,378 households.
This year’s average property tax increase for homeowners in that group was $158, he said, and eligible homeowners would have to verify their income.
The commissioners would have to find additional money to continue the program, which was prompted by big jumps in property tax values this year that left many lower-income homeowners struggling to pay their tax bills.
The state and county already offer tax help to some homeowners, including senior adults, veterans, farmers, and people with disabilities.
Once started, the Longtime Homeowner Assistance Program is probably not going to stop, Commissioner Earl McKee said.
“I’m not saying it’s a bad thing,” he said. “I’m just saying I don’t believe that once started, this program will stop, and it probably shouldn’t, because we do have an issue with the urbanization and gentrification of Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough, and the entire county.”
The county’s pilot program was modeled on a similar program that the nonprofit Marian Cheek Jackson Center started with a three-year, $40,000 grant to help lower-income residents in Chapel Hill’s three historically Black neighborhoods.
Neighbors in Northside, Tin Top and Pine Knolls sought help from the county in April after seeing their property values increase by as much as 20% to over 86%. Jackson Center executive director George Barrett estimated then that meeting the need could cost another $20,000.
“I think first and foremost something we should always consider and that should be central to this conversation is that we continue our work to correct the inequitable system so that it does not happen again, as we also know that this ... is happening to many African-American and communities of color across the nation,” Barrett said.
