Kirk Boone Retires After Three Decades in Property Tax Education

Kirk Boone, associate teaching professor of public finance and government and property assessment expert, retired from the UNC School of Government in August 2026. 

Boone is a certified appraiser by the North Carolina Association of Assessing Officers. He began his governmental career in 1992 with the North Carolina Department of Revenue, where he was a property valuation specialist for 18 years.Next, Boone served as the North Carolina sales and consulting lead for Tax Management Associates, Inc. in Charlotte. He joined the School in 2014. 

Boone is also designated a personal property specialist and assessment administration specialist by the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO), where he is a national instructor for Appraiser Qualifications Board-certified Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice,the co-author of several exams,and the creator of several courses includingThe Assessment of Personal Propertyand Basic and Advanced Personal Property Auditing.  

Like legendary UNC basketball coach Roy Williams, Boone grew up in the mountainous North Carolina town of Spruce Pine. He matriculated to the University of North Carolina at Asheville, where he majored in math and was named the Outstanding Math Student of the Year in 1991 and earned a BA, cum laude, in mathematics.  

Colleagues describe Boone as personable and knowledgeable in equal measure—someone who pairs a folksy, easygoing manner with a deep command of assessment and valuation policy.  

Throughout his time at the School, Boone taught dozens of courses and workshops on real property appraisal, mass appraisal, personal property, and assessment administration, reaching tax officials in communities across North Carolina—from Gastonia and Hickory to Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill—as well as online.  

Boone organized the Property Tax Education Partnership in 2015, a collaboration between the School of Government and the North Carolina Department of Revenue that combines property tax educational offerings from multiple organizations into a single statewide calendar. 

Boone was one of three School of Government faculty members who wrote for “Death and Taxes,” a blog on practical governmental finance, appraisal, and tax policy. He and co-author Margaret Henderson published on a less expected topic for a property tax specialist: how property tax officials can help recognize and report signs of human trafficking, work that appeared as a cover feature in IAAO's Fair and Equitable magazine. 

He was named the Albert and Gladys Hall Coates Distinguished Term Professor for 2023–2024 by the School of Government. 

Over his career he became known for building lasting connections with the tax assessors he served, including through a weekly online forum, the Assessor Town Hall, that he launched in March 2020 and has led ever since, drawing participants from across the state. 

One assessor who worked with Boone called him an exceptional property tax leader and educator, one who paired strategic vision with a rare ability to make complex assessment concepts clear—and who pushed others around him to strive for excellence. 

He received the North Carolina Association of Assessing Officers’ Presidential Award in 2009 and the Henry W. Lewis Award in 2023. 

Boone was selected as an International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) Fellow in 2024 and elected as a member of the Board of Directors in 2026. His term begins in January 2027. 

Boone's retirement closes out more than 30 years in North Carolina property tax administration and education.He leaves behind a network of tax officials across the stateand beyondwho credit him with shaping how they do their jobs, and,through his upcoming term on the IAAO Board of Directors, his influence on assessing officers and the profession’s education will continue.