Oh, the games we play. Especially the Olympian class dips, flips, and hurdles to avoid speaking plainly about the local property tax burden.

Recall that we still do not have a number for the value of all real property in Mecklenburg County. All we have is single-family housing, which should make up about two-thirds of the total. It follows than that the city of Charlotte likewise does not have a number for the value of all real property in the city, which has somewhat more multi-family and commercial parcels, meaning a big chunk of the value is unknown.

Or so we’ve been told.

City Manager Curt Walton yesterday raised doubt about just how forthcoming local government has been with its revaluation figures. In his initial budget suggestions, Walton declared that the city would roll with a revenue-neutral tax rate. OK. But if Walton does not know the total valuation to which the rate will be applied, he just left the door open to massive property tax rate increase should that value not meet expectations.

As we’ve said for months in the face of steadfast obfuscation from government staff, this is not a complicated matter. Rate X Value = Tax bill. Add up all the tax bills, that is the revenue for city and county. This is why the total valuation number is so important. It defines both the rate and the total revenue. But staff has been loathe to give up that number — even to the point of pushing out commercial value notices past the deadline to contest single-family values, past the start of local government budget planning season. None of this made any sense. And now Walton has shown it to be a convenient fiction.

City budget planners must be working from at least an estimate of the total valuation number — including the value of commercial real estate, a number which is still cloaked from the eyes of the grubby public. You know, the folks who will actually be paying the taxes.

Evidently the view in local government circles is that there is really no need to get taxpayers involved until you send out the tax bills in October.