Davidson Gets New Property Values From Two Counties at Once. What Actually Moves the Tax Bill?

The annual property tax figure on a Davidson listing this fall comes from values set as of January 2023. That figure runs out in a few months. Mecklenburg County and Iredell County, the two counties Davidson sits in, both have revaluations that take effect January 1, 2027. If you buy in Davidson between now and spring, you'll budget from a tax number that is about to be recalculated from scratch.

A higher assessed value is close to a sure thing, but it doesn't settle the tax bill. North Carolina sets up revaluations so that the countywide increase is supposed to wash out through a lower rate. The bill is decided by how a home's new value compares with everyone else's, and by whether the local boards stick to that lower rate. On both counts, Davidson has a record worth knowing.

The two clocks, side by side

Mecklenburg County's Office of Tax Administration reported on September 2, 2026 that it had finished an initial review of 428,506 parcels. The median residential increase came to about 15%, and the median commercial increase to about 30%. The county was clear that these are first-pass numbers. Assessment staff will keep reviewing properties for the rest of 2026, and final values will be posted in 2027.

Iredell County is further along. Its commissioners adopted the 2027 schedule of values on October 6. In the county's October 2 announcement, Tax Assessor Andy Alexander described the last stretch of work this way: "We are verifying all new sales data as it comes in and rechecking the sales ratios of each neighborhood to see if there are any minor changes that need to be made, up or down."

Here's how the timeline lines up for anyone shopping in Davidson this season:

1. Tuesday, October 27, at 6 p.m. Mecklenburg County lists a 2027 revaluation presentation to the Davidson Board of Commissioners.
2. January 1, 2027. New values take effect in both counties.
3. Early 2027. Mecklenburg mails notices and posts the values online. Owners have 30 days from the date on the notice to ask for an informal review.
4. Second week of February 2027. Iredell expects to mail its new-value notices.
5. Spring budget season. Each board sets the rate that gets applied to those new values for the fiscal year starting July 1, 2027.

The last step is the one that decides the bill.

The rates in force today

The bills sent out for fiscal year 2026-27 rest on these rates, each per $100 of assessed value:

Mecklenburg's rate is in the county's FY2027 budget adoption release. The Iredell rates come from its signed FY27 budget ordinance. Davidson's 26.6¢ appears on Mecklenburg's 2026-2027 jurisdiction rate chart, and it is the same rate Davidson charged in 2025. The Town Manager's May 2026 budget presentation proposed keeping it at 26.6¢.

The Town's own budget materials count 6,274 parcels in Davidson's Mecklenburg portion, and they model combined Town-and-Iredell bills separately. So the county line runs through the town, and the county a parcel sits in determines which county rate and which revaluation apply to it. Iredell's 9¢ fire figure shows up in the county's sample bill for a home outside municipal limits. Whether a particular Iredell-side Davidson parcel carries that charge is something to check against the county's own records for that address.

Why a 15% jump does not mean a 15% bigger bill

After a revaluation, North Carolina law requires each local government to publish a revenue-neutral tax rate with its budget. That is the rate expected to bring in the same revenue the government would have collected without the revaluation, adjusted for growth. The text is in N.C. General Statute 159-11(e).

The arithmetic, simplified and set apart from any real budget, goes like this. Suppose every home in a county gained exactly 15%. A revenue-neutral rate would then drop by roughly the same proportion, and every owner's bill would stay about where it was. Homes never move in lockstep, though. A home that gained 25% would pay more under the revenue-neutral rate, and a home that gained 5% would pay less. Moving from a 15% countywide gain to a 25% individual gain works out to a bill roughly 8.7% higher, before the board changes the rate at all.

Iredell's assessor made the same point from a different angle. His hypothetical $200,000 home outside municipal limits pays $1,180 at the combined 59¢ county and fire rate, or $1,244 with the $64 solid waste fee. If it is reassessed at $210,000 and rates stay unchanged, the total comes to $1,303. He emphasized that the example assumes the 2026 rates hold, and that rates can change from year to year regardless of assessed value.

Two numbers settle a Davidson bill. The first is how far a home's value moved compared with its county's median. The second is how far each board's adopted rate lands from revenue-neutral.

What Davidson did the last time

The 2023 revaluation is the clearest preview available. Davidson property values rose about 44% on average, according to the Town's finance director in Lake Norman Publications' May 2023 coverage. The Town rate dropped from 32.5¢ to 26.6¢. The revenue-neutral rate, though, was 23.6¢, so the adopted rate sat 3¢ above it. The same report said the new rate would bring in 16% more municipal tax revenue. The Town's FY2024 budget confirms the 26.6¢ rate against the 23.6¢ revenue-neutral figure.

Mecklenburg made the same kind of call. Its FY2024 rate fell from 61.69¢ to 47.31¢, which was still above the stated revenue-neutral rate of 45.71¢.

In 2023, both the Town of Davidson and Mecklenburg County lowered their rates after the revaluation, and both landed above revenue-neutral.

Since then, Davidson's rate has stayed at 26.6¢ for three budget cycles. That rate was set against 2023 values. The open question for 2027 is where it lands against values set as of January 1, 2027.

Davidson's sale prices have been running ahead of its neighbors

In September 2026, Canopy MLS recorded 41 closed sales in Davidson at a median of $655,000, up 18.9% year over year. The average sale price was $824,392, up 13.5%. In the same Canopy Realtor Association report, current as of October 5, 2026, nearby medians moved the other way or barely moved.

• Huntersville: $539,950, down 15.6%
• Cornelius: $550,000, down 4.3%
• City of Charlotte: $420,000, up 0.5%
• Mooresville: $495,500, down 0.9%

Those figures are one month of sales, not assessments. A median built on 41 closings can swing with the mix of homes that happened to sell. The revaluation measures change from January 2023 to January 2027, not over a single year. What the data does show is direction. When one town's sale prices pull ahead of the county around it, its homes are more likely to come in above the county's median increase. Under a revenue-neutral rate, that means a larger share of the county bill. Mecklenburg's roughly 15% preliminary median is the benchmark Davidson's Mecklenburg-side homes will be measured against.

For a buyer, this changes how to read a listing's tax line. The 2026 bill on a Davidson home shows what the current owner paid on a 2023 value. Once the new assessment arrives, it reflects the market as of January 1, 2027, the same market a buyer is paying into this winter. A purchase that closes this fall or winter will likely get a 2026 tax proration at closing and then, within months, a notice carrying the new value. Each county's own revaluation page explains how that value is set and how a review works. Mecklenburg's is at tax.mecknc.gov, and Iredell's appraisal manual is linked from its reappraisal announcement.

Frequently Asked Questions

When will Davidson owners see their new values? Mecklenburg says notices go out and values post online in early 2027. Iredell expects to mail its notices in the second week of February 2027. Both take effect January 1, 2027.

Is the 15% Mecklenburg figure final? No. The county calls it the median residential increase after an initial review, and staff will keep reviewing properties through the rest of 2026.

Does the revenue-neutral rate have to be adopted? State law requires it to be calculated and published with the budget. In 2023, Davidson and Mecklenburg both published one and both adopted higher rates.

How often do these counties revalue? Iredell runs on a four-year cycle, and state law requires reappraisal at least every eight years. Mecklenburg describes its 2027 revaluation as its regular four-year revaluation.

This post is general information about how the 2027 revaluations and local rates work. It is not legal, tax, or financial advice, so please confirm your own situation with a qualified tax professional or the county assessor's office.

If you're weighing a Davidson home this season, we'll help you read the tax line on every listing for what it is: a 2023 number about to be replaced. We'll show you how a home's recent sales compare with the county benchmark before you write an offer. Barbara Pereira offers a complimentary home valuation and concierge consultation for buyers and owners preparing for the 2027 revaluation.