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Eric Wetzbarger is worried about the tax bill on his house - and he hasn't even received a revaluation notice from Cumberland County.

Wetzbarger just moved into a custom-designed home he had built in a gated section of King's Grant. The home, in north Fayetteville, is so new that it has yet to show up on the county tax roll.

But this year's property revaluation has raised the tax assessments on the homes of Wetzbarger's neighbors by an average of 59 percent.

"When they reassess it fully, I hope it's not double, like they reassessed the land for," Wetzbarger said. "If they double it, man, that's like New York taxes. That's crazy, man. That's where I came from. I came down here to get away from that."

A neighborhood-by-neighborhood analysis by The Fayetteville Observer shows that the revaluation caused property values in high-end developments such as King's Grant to climb significantly higher than in other neighborhoods.

The average property value for some areas of Haymount, Eastover Air Ranch, Dalton Ridge, Traemoor, Courtyards II, Gates Four, Baytree and Baywood increased by 41 percent or more.

County Tax Administrator Aaron Donaldson said his office is too busy to analyze neighborhood trends. But he said affluent areas were not targeted in the revaluation process.

"You still have to go back to location, location, location, no matter what price structure you're talking about," Donaldson said. "If those are desirable areas, there's probably more demand, which drives up the price."

Almost 117,000 parcels had an initial increase from this year's revaluation, compared to 96,466 parcels that went up after a 2003 revaluation before the appeal process started.

Wetzbarger said his new house was valued at $370,000 in a recent private appraisal. But almost half of his neighbors' homes were revalued to more than $400,000. A few topped the half-million-dollar mark.

Longtime Fayetteville appraiser Tom Keith said high-end homes are tougher to value because there are fewer of them in Cumberland County and they change hands less often.

Homes worth more than $1 million are especially tricky, Keith said.

"We just don't have an abundance of sales to support a value over $1 million. That gets to be more of a guessing game," Keith said. "That's probably where we've seen some questionable values that could probably stand some appeal."

Owners of 14,603 parcels requested that the tax office conduct an informal review of their assessments. Nearly half of those assessments have been reduced. That shrunk the county tax base by $213 million.

Donaldson has yet to rule on 771 informal appeals, but those should be decided this week.

Daniel Seaman and Vickie Farmer of Eastover are among the homeowners awaiting Donaldson's verdict on an informal appeal.

The county raised their Eastover Air Ranch assessment by 66 percent.

And that's not the highest percentage increase in the subdivision, where homeowners use a grass runway to taxi small planes right up to their back doors.

While Eastover Town Council members aren't cutting their 2010 tax rate, Cumberland County commissioners have done so to prevent a revenue windfall from revaluation.

Even with the county rate cut, Seaman and Farmer will pay $1,570 more in real estate taxes next year, according to an Observer estimate. Their home was revalued at $474,400.

"I think it's ridiculous," Farmer said. "I would love to sell it for half of what they say it's worth."

The couple had a private appraisal done. It came back between $290,000 and $300,000. The county previously assessed the home at $285,100.

Farmer's confidence in Donaldson's office was further eroded by her private appraiser's revelation that the couple have paid taxes for a 2,649-square-foot enclosed garage since 1995.

"We have no garage," Farmer said.

Tina Belanger, the county's assistant tax administrator, said homeowners who can prove such a mistake are entitled to refunds dating back five years.

"If it's wrong, we'll make it right," Donaldson said.

Fayetteville retiree Wes Corbin believes Donaldson got it wrong at his house, too. Corbin was upset that the county increased the taxable value of his Loch Lomond house by 29 percent.

He filed an informal appeal with the tax office, and Donaldson told him this month that the value would be cut by $2,300.

Corbin doesn't think that's nearly enough.

The 40-year-old house was valued at $80,900 last year and revalued for $104,000 this year. The revised value is $101,700.

Corbin said a private appraiser told him that he'd be lucky to get $97,000 for his house because of a cracked wall. So Corbin is appealing his new value to the county Board of Equalization and Review.

"They're all over the board on this thing," Corbin said. "I don't know if they've got a dart down there that they're throwing at the board or what."

Corbin may find it hard to believe, but North Carolina property revaluation tends to favor homeowners over the long haul. State law requires counties to revalue property at least once every eight years.

Once a revaluation date is established, that is supposed to be the basis on which all construction is assessed until the next revaluation.

The 2009 revaluation date was Jan. 1. So all new buildings and additions put on the county rolls until the next revaluation are supposed to be assessed at what they would have been worth on Jan. 1, 2009, even if there is significant market appreciation in the meantime.

Donaldson said he doesn't expect another revaluation until at least 2013.

That might explain the big assessment jumps in certain neighborhoods this time. Some residential assessments were artificially low to begin with because even new construction was assessed at 2003 levels.

Chelle Borresen said she thinks Donaldson's revaluation of her Haymount home was closer than the last assessment.

The new assessment was 44 percent higher.

"Well, 44 percent is quite a bit," said Borresen, as she and her 8-year-old daughter headed out for a swim on a recent morning. "But I think it's actually more in line with the property values in this neighborhood, what you could sell a home for."

She and her husband bought their home in 2005 for $192,500. It was previously assessed at $125,800. The new tax value is $181,800.

The Borresens will pay about $464 more in real estates taxes next year. Chelle Borresen said she doesn't mind.

Her praise of Donaldson's work is rare these days. The tax administrator appeared pleased to hear of it.

"You just have to use common sense and look at the information you have available," Donaldson said.