Property Taxes at Kure Beach: Two Bills, One Rate in Flux
Kure Beach property owners pay two separate tax bills -- one to the Town, one to New Hanover County -- and both were shaped by a countywide revaluation effective January 1, 2025. As of this research pass, the town side of the equation is genuinely still in motion: staff proposed a tax-rate increase for FY2026-27 that this page could not confirm was adopted. Here's what's actually known, and what to verify before assuming a number.
Two Bills, One Parcel
Every property in Kure Beach is taxed by two separate governments: the Town of Kure Beach itself (a municipal rate funding town police, fire, public works, and administration) and New Hanover County (a countywide rate funding schools and county-level services). Neither substitutes for the other -- an owner pays both, calculated against the same assessed value, typically combined into one bill for convenience even though the two rates are set independently by two different elected bodies.
This two-tier structure is standard for an incorporated NC beach town inside a larger county. What's worth understanding in detail here is how recently and how significantly both rates have moved, and that the town's own rate may be moving again as this page is read.
The January 2025 Revaluation: The Backdrop for Both Rates
North Carolina law requires counties to reassess property values at least every eight years; New Hanover County reassesses more often than that minimum. The most recent countywide revaluation took effect January 1, 2025, and produced substantial increases in assessed values across the county -- reporting on the county's own figures described a significant average residential increase countywide, prompting most of the county's municipalities, including Kure Beach, to revisit their own tax rates in response. This research pass did not find a Kure Beach-specific reported percentage increase in assessed values comparable to the region-wide figures reported for some neighboring towns -- that specific number is not stated here because it wasn't independently confirmed for Kure Beach.
Whatever a specific Kure Beach parcel's new assessed value turned out to be after the 2025 revaluation, it's a separate question from that parcel's actual sale price -- listing sites often show one or the other, and a buyer should pull the parcel's official assessed value directly from the New Hanover County Tax Office rather than assuming a market price and an assessed value are the same figure.
New Hanover County's Rate: 30.6 Cents Per $100, Held Flat Into FY2026-27
The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners set its countywide tax rate at 30.6 cents per $100 of assessed value for FY2025-26 in a 3-2 vote in June 2025, a rate that also required cutting roughly 70 county jobs and eliminating funding for several county programs, per Port City Daily's reporting at the time. For FY2026-27, the Board kept that same 30.6-cent rate flat, adopting the new budget in a 4-1 vote, per WWAYTV3's coverage. This is the county-level component of a Kure Beach owner's total bill and does not fund town-specific services like Kure Beach's own police, fire, or public works departments.
Separately, New Hanover County also maintains a Fire Service District tax of 7.25 cents per $100 for unincorporated portions of the county, per the county's own FY2026-27 budget materials. Because Kure Beach is an incorporated town with its own municipal fire department (founded in 1947, operating out of a station behind Town Hall with a mix of full-time, part-time, and volunteer staff), that separate district levy most likely does not apply within Kure Beach's town limits -- but this page did not confirm that reading directly from the county's tax-rate ordinance text, so verify it with the New Hanover County Tax Office before assuming it doesn't apply to a specific parcel.
The Town's Rate: 17.2 Cents Confirmed, a Proposed Increase Not Yet Confirmed Adopted
The Town of Kure Beach's own FY2025-26 fee schedule -- an official town document -- lists its ad valorem tax rate at $0.172 per $100 of assessed value. That figure is directly confirmed from the town's own published fee schedule PDF (revised December 15, 2025), making it the most reliable current-as-of-this-research-pass figure this page can point to.
What's not settled: Port City Daily reported on April 22, 2026 that Kure Beach staff were proposing a 2.3-cent tax-rate increase for FY2026-27 -- pushing the rate to roughly 19.5 cents per $100 -- to help close a projected $1.7 million budget deficit driven by rising general-fund and water-and-sewer-fund expenses against flat revenue. The article described a public hearing scheduled for early June 2026 and a council vote required by statutory deadline that same month, since North Carolina towns must adopt a budget before the new fiscal year begins July 1. This research pass, conducted after that deadline had passed, could not locate confirmation of the final adopted FY2026-27 rate. That is a genuine, acknowledged gap in this page's research, not an oversight -- confirm the current rate directly with the Town of Kure Beach's Finance Department or its published FY2026-27 budget ordinance before relying on either the 17.2-cent or the roughly-19.5-cent figure.
The Combined Rate -- and What It Doesn't Include
Adding the confirmed FY2025-26 town rate (17.2 cents) to the confirmed county rate (30.6 cents) gives an approximate combined rate of roughly 47.8 cents per $100 of assessed value. This page states that as arithmetic on two separately confirmed, separately sourced numbers -- not a single officially published 'combined rate,' and it doesn't include any special district levy, such as the county's Fire Service District rate, that this page could not confirm does or doesn't apply to a specific Kure Beach parcel.
As an illustration only: a property assessed at $700,000 -- in the lower-middle of the range of median sale prices multiple market trackers reported for Kure Beach across 2025-2026 -- would owe roughly $3,346 in combined town-plus-county property tax at the 47.8-cent FY2025-26 combined rate ($700,000 ÷ 100 × $0.478). If the town's rate increases to roughly 19.5 cents for FY2026-27 as proposed, that same property's combined rate would move to roughly 50.1 cents, or about $3,507 -- again, this page's own arithmetic on confirmed and proposed rates, not a substitute for an actual tax bill, and contingent on confirming whether that FY2026-27 increase was actually adopted.
What a Buyer Should Actually Do
Before making an offer on any Kure Beach property, pull the parcel's current assessed value and most recent tax bill directly from the New Hanover County Tax Office (not from a real estate listing site, which may show a stale figure), and ask the Town of Kure Beach directly and explicitly whether the FY2026-27 tax-rate increase proposed in spring 2026 was adopted, and at what final rate -- this is a live, unresolved question this page's research pass could not close out, and it may have moved further by the time you're reading this.
This page does not state a property tax proration formula for a mid-year closing, nor does it state current eligibility details for any North Carolina homestead, elderly/disabled, or circuit-breaker property tax relief program that might apply to a Kure Beach owner -- North Carolina does have statewide programs along these lines, but this page did not independently verify their current income thresholds or application process this research pass. Ask the New Hanover County Tax Office directly about any relief program you might qualify for.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Data sourced from: the Town of Kure Beach's own website (townofkurebeach.org), specifically its FY2025-26 fee schedule PDF (revised December 15, 2025) listing the $0.172-per-$100 ad valorem tax rate; New Hanover County's own site (nhcgov.com) for the January 1, 2025 revaluation, the FY2025-26 and FY2026-27 countywide tax rates, and the separate Fire Service District rate; Port City Daily's reporting on the county's FY2025-26 budget cuts and June 2025 rate vote, and its April 22, 2026 reporting on Kure Beach's proposed $1.7 million deficit and 2.3-cent tax-rate increase proposal for FY2026-27; and WWAYTV3's reporting on New Hanover County's FY2026-27 adopted budget and flat 30.6-cent rate. The combined ~47.8-cent rate and the illustrative $700,000-home tax calculations are this page's own arithmetic on separately confirmed and, in one case, proposed-but-unconfirmed rates, not a single published combined figure. Facts not independently confirmed and not invented here include: the final adopted FY2026-27 Town of Kure Beach tax rate; a Kure Beach-specific reported percentage increase in assessed values from the 2025 revaluation; whether the county's Fire Service District levy applies within Kure Beach's town limits; the county's current post-revaluation appeal process; and current eligibility details for any North Carolina homestead, elderly/disabled, or circuit-breaker property tax relief program. Confirm all current figures and eligibility directly with the New Hanover County Tax Office and the Town of Kure Beach before making a purchase decision. Nothing on this page is tax or legal advice.