Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 10, 1991 TAG: 9104100140
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS/ NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Harold Wingate, president of Wingate Associates of Roanoke, told members of the Greater Blacksburg Chamber of Commerce Tuesday that "there aren't any absolute perfect reassessments."
He said he hoped people with questions took them to the first set of hearings before the Board of Assessors. If not, they can take complaints to the Equalization Board and, if unsuccessful there, to circuit court, he said.
The Board of Equalization will hold its first meetings next Monday, Wednesday and Friday. More than 30 people have signed up to be heard but about 30 more spaces are open. To make an appointment, call 382-6945.
The worksheets the appraisers used in their reassessments are available to property owners, Wingate said.
Wingate made the arcane discussion of real-estate appraisal entertaining. He also may have shocked the business crowd a bit when he said he personally opposes real-estate taxes.
"Now, that would put me out of business, wouldn't it? I'd rather see an increase in the sales tax and just wipe the real-estate tax out."
The recession complicated his firm's reassessment in Montgomery County and a half-dozen other counties last year, Wingate said. His employees were working with 1989 real estate sales figures, but property values began falling because of market conditions.
"It was a rough time to do a reassessment, he said.
In Rockbridge County, the board of supervisors didn't like the reassessment results and tried to talk Wingate into reducing it 20 percent across the board, he said.
That wouldn't have solved anything, because some property values were changed more than others, he said. He told the supervisors the tax impact could be softened by cutting the tax rate.
The Virginia Constitution requires that real estate be assessed at its fair market value. In 1976, the General Assembly passed a law emphasizing the constitutional requirement and giving localities four years to get assessed values up to 100 percent of market value.
Counties with more than 50,000 population must reassess at least every four years and cities every two years. Smaller counties and cities have to reassess less often.
Previous property values were not taken into account in Montgomery County. That's because Wingate doesn't want to be influenced to change the fair market value of property because it differs significantly from the old value - whether the old value is lower or higher, he said.
"A general reassessment is an equalization program," Wingate said, " . . . so each person pays their fair and proportionate share, no more and no less."
Wingate said the assessment team looks at each piece of property separately. Assessors typically make as many as five trips through a neighborhood and will visit the property at least once, looking inside the house if possible, he said.
The neighborhood has an effect on the value of property, and appraisers check the neighborhood for recent sales, he said. For instance, he said, the same house in the city of Bedford would sell for 20 percent more if it were at Smith Mountain Lake, and that does not include the price of the land under it.
Likewise, commercial property in Blacksburg, where there's a vibrant downtown, changed in value much differently than that in Christiansburg, he said.
by CNB