Improving Homeowner Participation and Understanding of Property Tax Relief Options

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

In early 2020, the Wake County Department of Tax Administration had the first of an intended series of public meetings regarding the 2020 revaluation. Through this, our office realized the community was not generally aware of property tax relief options. By state law, property tax relief has several requirements, limiting the program to the County’s most vulnerable taxpayers. In 2021, we began in earnest to work to improve participation and understanding of property tax relief options. Working with our partners in Planning, Information Services and Communications, our office clearly identified the populations eligible for tax relief and analyzed the percentage of taxpayers taking advantage of these programs. We re-designed information to better educate taxpayers and partnered with community organizations to distribute information, as they are sometimes more trusted by vulnerable populations. Community organizations readily shared our information to targeted taxpayers, municipalities included property tax relief information in their resident outreach, and elected officials explained property tax relief to grassroots organizers. As a result of these efforts, we saw an almost 10% percent increase from the prior year in struggling homeowners receiving much-needed property tax relief and 30% of all applications received were a result of the revamped information and enhanced outreach.