Mecklenburg County commissioners are set to take up a motion Tuesday that supports refunds for property owners who were overbilled in 2011 and 2012 because of problems with the 2011 revaluation.

The county would need legislative authority to provide the refunds, but the motion isn’t required to start the legislation.

It is mostly a statement to legislators.

“They’re going to do in Raleigh whatever the heck they’re going to do,” said board Chair Pat Cotham, a Democrat, who put the motion written by Republican Commissioner Bill James on Tuesday’s agenda. “I want us to show that we want to be collaborative in the process.

“And I want to force a little public talk” among commissioners.

Commissioner Matthew Ridenhour, a Republican, said the motion would include the county in the legislative conversation.

“Here’s the reality of the situation: Legislation is going to come from Raleigh forcing us to act,” Ridenhour emailed to other commissioners Monday. “We can either get ahead of it, have some input, and show the community that we are being proactive – or we can wait to be told from Raleigh what to do.”

In addition to addressing refunds, the motion authorizes County Attorney Marvin Bethune to work with legislators drafting a bill.

The motion comes months after Pearson’s Appraisal Service found dozens of major and minor inequity flaws among a 15 percent sample of the county’s neighborhoods. In late November, the board hired Pearson’s to survey the remaining neighborhoods, which began last month.

Pearson’s has stressed that the inequities include properties that were undervalued. Those taxpayers could get higher tax bills.

The motion, as James wrote it, supports higher bills “if required by law” to make the legislation constitutional.

If it’s not required, he doesn’t want those properties owners to be charged more taxes.

Legislators aren’t waiting for the motion to begin drafting a bill. State Sen. Jeff Tarte of Cornelius and Rep. Bill Brawley of Matthews, both Republicans, have been at work on one for weeks.

Cotham said she felt the current motion has the votes to pass.

The debate Tuesday may be over who is entitled to a refund. Some commissioners have suggested refunds go only to taxpayers with major inequities who appealed their property reappraisal.

James said he wants it to go to all overbilled properties owners, whether they appealed or not.

So does Cotham.

“It’s a matter of fairness,” she said. “Everybody on your street may have been overcharged, but if only two appealed – is it fair that they’re the only ones who get refunds? The others may have thought they didn’t have a chance, or they didn’t know how, or they didn’t have a computer to appeal. Or they were tending to a sick child and didn’t have the time.

“They shouldn’t be penalized again. How many times are we going to do something that’s not fair to this person?”