The property tax figure on a Surf City listing this fall comes from values set years ago. It also has a known end date. A North Carolina law signed in June 2026 pushed Pender and Onslow counties' new revaluations back by one tax year. It did not cancel them. If you're running carrying costs on a Surf City home right now, especially a second home or a rental where small margins add up, this year's bill tells you very little about the second year you own the place.
That gap is the single most useful thing a buyer comparing coastal towns can understand about Surf City right now.
What the tax line on a listing actually measures
Pender County's 2026 revaluation was its first in seven years. In March 2026, Ryan Vincent of Vincent Valuations told county commissioners at their budget retreat that values countywide were up 105% to 110% on average. He also gave estimates by town. Surf City came in at 116% to 121% and Topsail Beach at 111% to 116%.
His examples made the numbers concrete. One Topsail Beach home assessed at $451,444 in 2019 sold in late 2025 for $965,000. A mainland Surf City property once valued at $186,313 sold recently for $379,000.
Then the General Assembly stepped in. Session Law 2026-8, which started as Senate Bill 889, requires qualifying counties whose reappraisal took effect January 1, 2026 to skip those new values for the tax year beginning July 1, 2026 and use their previous schedule instead. Governor Josh Stein signed it on June 19, 2026. Pender County confirmed in an October 2 notice that 2026 tax values went back to their prior levels, which pushes the new values to 2027 tax bills.
On the Pender side of Surf City, then, the bill you see this fall is still assessing homes at roughly what they were worth before the pandemic-era run-up.
A delay written with an end date
The law spells out what happens next. Section 1(b) says that starting with the tax year that begins July 1, 2027, covered counties:
"shall use the schedule of values adopted by the board of county commissioners in accordance with the January 1, 2026, reappraisal until the adoption of a new schedule of values pursuant to a future reappraisal"
The 2026 numbers are already done. They're just waiting a year. The UNC School of Government's Coates' Canons blog reads it the same way, saying affected counties should send new notices of the 2027 values even if they already mailed those same values in 2026.
Local officials made their choices for this year around that one-year window. Pender County commissioners adopted a $236.6 million budget using 2025 values and kept the county rate at $0.7375 per $100. The county's budget brief dates final approval to June 24, 2026. County Manager Colby Sawyer said, "The board has made it clear that they do not want an increase in the effective tax rate."
The Surf City Town Council adopted its FY2026–27 budget on June 30, which was the last day of the fiscal year. The town rate dropped to $0.475 per $100, down 5.5 cents from $0.53. Town Manager Kyle Breuer said about $67.3 million in growth from new homes, remodels and renovations made room for the extra penny of that cut. The town's online FAQ still lists $0.53 as the current rate, so buyers looking things up on their own may run into the old figure.
So this fall's bills combine a lower town rate with older values. Neither one is fixed for 2027–28.
Why Surf City's share of the levy matters most
When a revaluation takes effect, North Carolina requires local governments to calculate a revenue-neutral rate. That's the rate that would raise the same revenue as the year before, adjusted for growth. Surf City's May 5 budget message pointed out the catch: the calculation runs on the whole tax base, so "individual tax bills may increase or decrease depending on how a property's valuation change compares to the overall tax base."
That same budget message is the clearest public look at what the revaluation does to Surf City's math. Staff ran two scenarios before the state law passed:
| Scenario in the May 5, 2026 budget message | Town tax base | Rate presented |
|---|---|---|
| Revaluations proceed in both counties | $4,026,342,419 | $0.26 recommended (revenue-neutral calculated at $0.3027) |
| Revaluations do not proceed | $2,157,908,315 | $0.485 |
Under the revaluation, the town's tax base nearly doubles and the rate needed to bring in about the same revenue roughly halves. Someone whose home value rose about as much as the town overall would see little change in the town portion of the bill. Someone whose value rose more than that would pay a bigger share.
The county portion works the same way, and this is where Surf City is different. The county's revenue-neutral rate depends on the countywide average, and Vincent Valuations estimated that Surf City's values rose faster than that average: 116% to 121%, against 105% to 110% for the county. If those estimates hold once the values are applied, Surf City parcels would carry a larger share of the county levy than they do now.
Port City Daily ran an example using the countywide average. A home valued at $300,000 on 2025 values pays about $2,200 a year at $0.7375. At the 110% countywide average, that same home would be valued at $630,000 under the 2026 revaluation. The county manager proposed a $0.4251 rate in June to go with those new values. That proposal was two cents above the $0.4051 revenue-neutral rate, and commissioners turned it down. It's an illustration, not a forecast. The rates for 2027–28 will be set in next June's budget season, and no one can say today what they'll be.
Two counties, two clocks
Surf City sits in both Pender and Onslow counties, and the Onslow side works on a different schedule. Onslow adopted a FY2026–27 county rate of $0.655 per $100 using values from its 2022 revaluation. Onslow's own 2026 reappraisal was reported in June at 35% to 40% overall, with North Topsail Beach values up 35.6%. No Surf City-specific figure for the Onslow side turned up in public reporting.
That means two Surf City homes at similar prices can have different starting values, different county rates and very different revaluation jumps, depending on which side of the county line they're on. When you compare two listings, a lower tax line may only tell you which county the house is in.
What to ask before you write an offer
None of this is tax advice, and your own numbers belong with a tax professional or the county. These are the questions I'd want answered on any Surf City purchase this fall:
- Which county is the parcel in? It decides which old values apply now and how big the 2027 change could be.
- What does the county show as the 2026 reappraised value? In March 2026, Pender owners were told notices of their new values were coming soon. Those values are the ones scheduled for 2027 bills, subject to appeal.
- Was the 2026 value already appealed? The School of Government's view is that completed appeals of 2026 values should still apply when those values are first used in 2027. It also recommends that pending appeals continue. It acknowledges that counties could choose to end pending appeals and make owners start over.
- What is your escrow based on? A lender estimating taxes from the current bill is working from old values, so give your budget room for a different number in the second year.
- For a rental, what is the pro forma assuming? Any projection built on this year's bill rests on figures the law has already scheduled to change.
The appeal rights are the one tool the law hands to a 2026 buyer. In covered counties with at least 15,000 people, which includes Pender and Onslow, Section 1(d) lets an owner who didn't appeal during 2026 appeal in 2027 as if the appraisal took effect January 1, 2027, as long as the appeal is filed on time. Any adjustment applies starting with the tax year that begins July 1, 2027.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did the state cancel Pender County's revaluation? No. S.L. 2026-8 delays the January 1, 2026 schedule of values by one tax year and requires counties to use it starting with the tax year that begins July 1, 2027.
Will my 2027 tax bill double if my value doubled? Not necessarily. The bill depends on the new value multiplied by rates the county and town will set for 2027–28. Surf City's budget message notes that revenue-neutral rates are figured on the overall base, so individual bills can go up or down.
When is Pender County's next revaluation? For timing purposes, the law treats the most recent reappraisal as taking effect January 1, 2027.
If you're weighing a Surf City home and want to work out what the 2027 values could mean for one specific property, I'm happy to look up the parcel's county records with you and build your carrying costs around the numbers that are actually coming. Kelly Peedin is here when you're ready. Let's Connect.
