Madison County Supervisors will consider approving a new real estate tax rate next month, one that is significantly less than the current rate.
Late last month, property owners in the county began receiving notices that their home values had increased. The changes are the result of the reassessment conducted by Wingate Appraisal Service. Madison County performs a reassessment every six years, the maximum amount of time allowed by state code. In accordance with state requirements, Wingate inspected every parcel within the county to estimate the current fair market value of real estate. The results were an overall 50% increase for owners of the 9,547 parcels in Madison County. The median increase of residential property in town was 43% and in the county, 57%. The median increase for multi-family homes was 43%; commercial and industrial, 16%; agricultural up to 99 acres, 45% and over 100 acres, 41%. Overall, the estimated fair market value went from $2.7 billion collectively to $4 billion.
However, fair market value increasing by 50% doesn’t mean the real estate tax rate will increase by that amount. By law, the county must equalize the rate to within 1% of the prior real estate tax revenue, something it intends to do next month.
As advertised, the equalized tax rate would be $0.49 per $100 of assessed value, far below the current rate of $0.74 per $100 of assessed value. The current rate hasn’t changed since 2020.
A public hearing regarding the equalized tax rate will be held Tuesday, April 8 at 4 p.m. at 414 N. Main Street, Madison.
It’s important to note that work on the county’s budget continues and supervisors can still choose to increase the real estate tax rate later in April. During last week’s budget worksession, supervisors began looking at projected revenues for FY26. Compared with rough estimates of expenses, before any cuts or adjustments have been made to the requests from departments and outside agencies, at least a starting $2.3 million appropriation from the fund balance will be needed to balance the budget. That number doesn’t include capital improvement projects.
County finance director Jennifer Warren noted that rough estimates have expenses increasing by 6.8% with revenue only increasing 1%.
Supervisor Jim Jewett said he’d like to stick to the equalized rate, but long term if the county’s tax base doesn’t increase, the rates will go up.
The supervisors will continue meeting weekly about the budget. Budget worksessions are held each Thursday, 3-6 p.m. at 414 N. Main Street, Madison.
