The Henry County Board of Supervisors approved a motion Tuesday night to extend the county’s personal property tax deadline until February 5, 2025.
Tiffany Hairston, the Commissioner of the Revenue, had requested the extension due to a delay in generating the file needed for billing this year.
Hairston wrote in a memo that a significant part of the delay was from ensuring that unregistered vehicles weren’t being charged the motor vehicle license (MVL) fee. The MVL fee is charged to every motor vehicle, trailer and semitrailer capable of being operated on the roadways in the county. The fee is $20.75 per vehicle, except motorcycles and trailers which are charged $12.
Hairston said there were approximately 4,000 vehicles that still needed to have the MVL fee removed as of October 25. In addition, approximately 3,000 vehicles needed to be assessed via manual lookup.
According to Hairston, her office has evaluated more than 76,000 pieces of personal property this year which is an increase of nearly 5,000 vehicles from the year prior.
Residents can also expect their personal property bills to appear differently this year. The primary difference is that machinery and tools with have a breakdown of items that are taxed.
Mobile homes and the vehicle identification number will also be listed.
Hairston expects to have the bill file ready for the Treasurer’s Office no later than December 13.
Residents are encouraged to contact the Commissioner of the Revenue’s Office at (276) 634-4690 if they receive a bill that includes an MVL fee for a vehicle without registration tags.
(NEW YORK) — The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate a half of a percentage point on Wednesday in a landmark decision that dials back its years-long fight against inflation and could deliver relief for borrowers saddled with high costs.
The central bank’s first rate cut since 2020 came after a recent stretch of data had established the key conditions for a rate cut: falling inflation and slowing job gains.
In theory, lower interest rates help stimulate economic activity and boost employment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 200 points in the immediate aftermath of the announcement on Wednesday afternoon.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also climbed following the news.
Speaking at a press conference in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell described the rate decision as a shift in policy at the central bank.
“This recalibration of our policy stance will help maintain the strength of the economy and the labor market, and enable further progress on inflation,” Powell said.
“The U.S. economy is in good shape,” Powell added. “We want to keep it there.”
The Federal Open Market Committee, a policymaking body at the Fed, on Wednesday forecast further interest rate cuts.
By the end of 2024, interest rates will fall nearly another half of a percentage point from their current level of between 4.75% and 5%, according to FOMC projections. Interest rates will drop another percentage point over the course of 2025, the projections indicated.
Over time, rate cuts ease the burden on borrowers for everything from home mortgages to credit cards to cars, making it cheaper to get a loan or refinance one. The cuts also boost company valuations, potentially helping fuel returns for stockholders.
Earlier this year, mortgage rates reached their highest level in more than two decades; while the average rate for credit card holders topped anything on record at the Fed. Interest rates for car loans have soared to levels last seen at the onset of the 2008 financial crisis, Edmunds found.
Interest rate cuts will bring many of those payments down, delivering gains for borrowers.
However, borrowers should not expect immediate relief from the Fed’s initial rate cut, Elizabeth Renter, senior economist at NerdWallet, told ABC News in a statement prior to the decision.
“This initial rate cut will have little immediate impact,” Renter said. “I anticipate many consumers and business owners will take the beginning of this change in monetary policy as a sign of hope.”
Inflation has slowed dramatically from a peak of about 9% in 2022, though it remains slightly higher than the Fed’s target of 2%.
Meanwhile, the job market has cooled. A weaker-than-expected jobs report in each of the last two months has stoked concern among some economists.
“We will do everything we can to support a strong labor market as we make further progress toward price stability,” Powell said last month.
Prior to the decision, the chances of a rate cut were are all but certain, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, a measure of market sentiment.
Market observers, however, had been divided over whether the Fed will impose its typical cut of a quarter of a percentage point, or opt for a larger half-point cut. The tool estimated the probability of a half-point cut at 65% and the odds of a quarter-point cut at 35%.
A half-point cut risked overstimulating the economy and rekindling elevated inflation, while a quarter-point cut threatened to delay the type of economic jumpstart that may be required to avert a recession, Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management, told ABC News in a statement.
“Rarely have market expectations been so torn” on the eve of a rate decision, Shah added.
The rate cut on Wednesday went into effect less than 50 days before the November election.
The decision deviated from the policy approach taken by the Fed prior to many recent presidential elections, a Reuters analysis found. Policy rates were left unchanged for six to 12 months before the 2020, 2016, 2012 and 2000 U.S. presidential elections, according to Reuters.
To be sure, the Fed says it bases its decisions on economic conditions and operates as an independent government body.
When asked about the 2024 election at a press conference in Washington, D.C., in December, Powell said, “We don’t think about politics.”
(ASHE COUNTY, N.C.) — The sheriff’s office in Rutherford County, NC, announced Monday that they’d arrested a man and charged him with allegedly threatening to harm Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) workers in the area.
William Parsons, 44, of Bostic, NC, was charged with “going armed to the terror of the public,” according to a statement from the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office provided to ABC News.
The Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office statement said deputies on Saturday investigated reports in the vicinity of Lake Lure and Chimney Rock that a “white male had an assault rifle and made the comment about possibly harming FEMA employees” working in the area. Witnesses were able to provide enough information for law enforcement to ultimately locate and identify Parsons, who was armed with a handgun and a rifle, according to the statement.
Parsons was released Saturday after posting $10,000 bond, according to the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office.
“The initial report stated there was a truckload of militia that was involved. However, after further investigation, it was determined Parsons acted alone and there were no truckloads of militia going to Lake Lure,” the statement said.
According to SITE Intelligence, which tracks the online activity of extremist organizations, Parsons has promoted the militia group the Three Percenters online.
News of the arrest came one day after the sheriff in Ashe County, NC, about two hours to the north of Rutherford County, said that there had been threats against FEMA employees responding to Hurricane Helene.
“Recently in the mountain region, there have been threats made against them,” Ashe County Sheriff Phil Howell posted on Facebook regarding the alleged threats against FEMA employees.
“This has not happened in Ashe County or the surrounding counties,” Howell added. “Out of an abundance of caution, they have paused their process as they are assessing the threats.”
Sheriff Howell did not specify in his post who allegedly made the threats, nor is it known if Parsons’ alleged threat is the one to which Sheriff Howell was referring. An ABC News request for comment sent to the Ashe County Sheriff’s Office did not receive an immediate response.
Threats to FEMA employees have been consistent during the Hurricane response, along with misinformation, federal authorities told ABC News.
Search and rescue efforts in the affected areas continue, a federal source told ABC News. However, while FEMA assesses potential threat information, disaster survivor assistance teams are currently working at fixed locations and secure areas instead of going door to door, out of an abundance of caution, the source said, adding that FEMA will monitor threat information and make adjustments to this posture on a regular basis in coordination with local officials.
A FEMA spokesperson told ABC News that the agency continues to support communities impacted by Helene and to help survivors apply for assistance.
“For the safety of our dedicated staff and the disaster survivors we are helping, FEMA has made some operational adjustments,” the spokesperson said. “Disaster Recovery Centers will continue to be open as scheduled, survivors continue to register for assistance, and we continue to help the people of North Carolina with their recovery.”
At the direction of North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, the state’s Department of Public Safety will assist FEMA conduct their operations.
“We know that significant misinformation online contributes to threats against response workers on the ground, and the safety of responders must be a priority,” the governor said. “At my direction, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety is helping partners like FEMA to coordinate with law enforcement to ensure their safety and security as they continue their important work.”
Sheriff Howell said that FEMA locations in Ashe County are open this week.
“Stay calm and steady during our recovery, help folks and please don’t stir the pot,” he said.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told ABC News Friday during a press briefing that threats to FEMA employees are a “shame” and a “distraction.”
“We continuously monitor the social media, channels, other outlets where we’re seeing this information, because we want to make sure we’re providing for the safest environment for our employees, and making sure that they know that their safety is first and foremost for us as they go out into these communities,” Criswell said in response to a question from ABC News.
FEMA hires people from local communities when disaster hits, Criswell said, noting that “many” leave their families behind to go and help communities who are impacted by disaster.
