news-record.com

Rep. Nelson Cole, D-Rockingham, on Wednesday filed a bill that would let counties rescind property revaluations.

House Bill 1530 is scheduled for its first hearing in the Local Government II Committee on April 29, Cole said in a news release.

The Rockingham County Board of Commissioners in February voted unanimously to rescind the property reappraisals and put it off until 2011. The decision came amid public outcry that the county was reappraising property during an economic recession. Some residents complained of inflated revaluations.

Cole said in his release that the offices of the attorney general and the N.C. Department of Revenue issued a directive this week stating that Rockingham and three other counties that had rescinded property revaluations would not be allowed to do so.

Cole said he's confident the bill will be approved by the committee.

"It is obvious that family budgets are really strained right now," he said. "We are living in the most difficult times since the Depression, and we need to do everything we can to minimize the burden on our citizens."