Lake Norman town seeks property tax freeze for longtime residents, disabled vets
Mooresville Mayor Chris Carney on Tuesday asked state legislators to give his town the option to cap property taxes for longtime residents, disabled veterans and first responders.
If the General Assembly approves the request, Mooresville would become the first municipality in the state authorized to freeze taxes for such adults, Carney said.
“Mooresville cannot become a town where you can’t live here your whole life,” Carney, a Republican and former state senator told the Mooresville Board of Commissioners Tuesday morning.
“That is something that we have to be incredibly cautious about in the direction we’re moving, and we’ve certainly seen it (happen) in the communities around us,” he said.
The Town Board unanimously backed Carney’s plan to request a local bill capping taxes at a level to be determined. Carney wrote to Mooresville-area state senators and representatives later Tuesday to introduce a local bill allowing the cap option.
“We’re not going to price out our elderly and, especially, we’re not going to tax them out of town,” Carney said.
Newcomers already know before moving here how much it will cost them to live in Mooresville, Carney said. “They understand the Mooresville they’re moving to.”
It’s a different story for others, he said.
Tougher to plan retirement, mayor says
Mooresville and other Lake Norman towns have experienced nonstop, rapid population growth in recent decades and property tax values that in many cases have at least doubled.
At Interstate 77 Brawley School Road exit 35, for instance, a new two- or three story townhome that sold for $165,000 in 2000 is now valued at nearly $300,000, public property tax records show.
“As we continue to grow in the area, our taxes typically go up and have made it very difficult for people who are on a fixed income,” Carney said.
Someone approaching 70 “who bought their home for $45,000 in 1990, and now it’s worth $500,000, it’s difficult for them to plan their retirement,” he said.
Capping taxes for such groups would have “minimal” effect on the town’s overall tax revenues, Carney told The Charlotte Observer at Town Hall after the board unanimously backed his plan.
How much of an effect still has to be determined, he said. What’s important is getting Raleigh’s approval to have the option to cap taxes, and then work out the details, he said.
Commissioner Lisa Qualls suggested Carney also include residents who live in attainable housing, or homes affordable to teachers and firefighters.
Commissioner Gary West said a person must have near poverty-level income to qualify for the small amount of government tax relief currently available. “Which is why I’m on board,” West said.
A cap also would help those reliant on Social Security to get by, he said.
This story was originally published July 2, 2025 at 5:00 AM.