What does this mean for my tax bill?

The approved budget amendment changes the Chowan County tax rate to 72 cents per $100 assessed value. The county is now taxing property using 2022 values, not the 2026 reappraisal values. The higher rate is intended to offset the lower tax base created by the state’s revaluation delay. Individual tax bills may vary depending on the property’s assessed value and any changes made since the 2022 assessment.

By Nicole Bowman-Layton

EDENTON — Chowan County property owners will see a higher county tax rate after commissioners unanimously adopted an amended fiscal year 2026-27 budget Monday, July 27, 2026, increasing the county’s property tax rate at 71 cents to comply with state legislation delaying the county’s scheduled property revaluation.

Chowan County commissioners approved a 3.6% increase in the county property tax rate Monday night, raising the rate from 69.5 cents to 72 cents per $100 of assessed value for fiscal year 2026-27. The increase comes after state lawmakers delayed implementation of the county’s 2026 property revaluation, requiring the county to amend the budget it adopted in June using 2022 property values instead.

The changes come less than a month after commissioners adopted a balanced budget before the July 1 start of the fiscal year.

Commissioners originally adopted a 57.25-cent revenue-neutral tax rate in June based on the county’s 2026 reappraisal. After the General Assembly postponed implementation of those new values, the county was required to recalculate its budget using the lower 2022 tax base, resulting in the amended 72-cent rate. That comparison is based on different property valuations and is not directly comparable to the prior fiscal year’s tax rate.

That left county officials with a budget based on one tax base and a law requiring taxes to be collected from another.

County Manager Kevin Howard said Monday’s amendment was necessary to comply with the new law while keeping the county’s spending plan largely intact.

“We need to amend our budget using the old values from 2022,” Howard said. “None of the expenses in the budget have changed except for ED-1 for Timbermill because the tax rate changes (with the new budget).” He added that the legislation specifically authorized counties affected by the revaluation delay to amend previously adopted tax rates.

Although the amended budget increases the tax rate by nearly 26%, county officials have maintained that the higher rate is needed because taxes will now be calculated using lower 2022 assessed values rather than the higher values established during the county’s 2026 revaluation. The amended rate is intended to generate the revenue necessary to fund the budget adopted for the current fiscal year.

The amended ordinance maintains a $27.38 million General Fund budget, with funding levels for county departments and services remaining largely unchanged from the budget approved in June.

One provision of the ordinance authorizes County Manager Kevin Howard, acting as budget officer, to determine when vacant or newly created positions may be filled during the fiscal year as part of an effort to reduce expenditures. Positions may not be filled without the budget officer’s approval.

The special meeting included a required public hearing on the amended budget. No residents signed up to speak or offered comments from the audience.

Following the close of the public hearing, commissioners unanimously approved the amended budget ordinance without discussion.

As the brief meeting concluded, Board Chair Bob Kirby looked around the room and smiled.

“We have a new record,” Kirby said.

“Five minutes,” Howard replied.

Why the budget had to be approved again

North Carolina law requires counties to adopt an annual budget before the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1. Chowan County met that deadline in June using the laws in effect at the time.

Afterward, the General Assembly approved legislation postponing the 2026 property revaluation in several counties, including Chowan County, by one year and specifically authorized affected local governments to amend previously adopted budgets and tax rates to reflect the change. Monday’s action brought the county’s budget into compliance with the new law while allowing county operations to continue under the revised tax structure.

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Editor’s Note: This article was updated at 2 p.m. July 28, 2026, to clarify the change in Chowan County’s property tax rate. The amended fiscal year 2026-27 rate of 72 cents per $100 of assessed value is 2.5 cents, or approximately 3.6%, higher than the 69.5-cent rate in effect for fiscal year 2025-26. An earlier version compared the 72-cent rate with the 57.25-cent rate initially adopted for 2026-27, but those rates were based on different property valuations and were not directly comparable.