Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 8, 1995                   TAG: 9502080055
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HIGHER TAXES LIKELY FOR MANY IN FRANKLIN

And when they open it, many will reassess that trip to the mailbox.

Real estate values went up by an average 25 percent countywide, according to Harold Wingate, an appraiser for Wingate and Associates, the company hired by the county to do the reassessment.

A significant segment of the county's homeowners will be required to pay higher taxes - unless the county Board of Supervisors lowers the real estate tax rate.

So, is there any way the board will reduce the tax rate this year?

The board lowered it by 10 cents after the 1989 reassessment.

But it turned around and raised the tax by the same amount in 1993. It's now 60 cents per $100 of assessed value. The owner of a $50,000 house pays $300 in taxes.

Boone District Supervisor Homer Murray, who voted against lowering the tax rate after the 1989 study, said he doesn't want to see history repeat itself.

"It's certainly easier to lower taxes than to raise them," he said. "But we're going to have to look at how we're going to come out with the state and the feds before we do anything."

Board Chairman Gus Forry, who represents the Rocky Mount District, said that while he won't rule out lowering taxes, he also won't make any promises.

Forry said he, too, will have to wait for information about state and federal budgets before he makes any decisions.

"And I'm talking four or five years down the road," Forry said. "We're not just talking about 1995-96."

This year's reassessment began in July 1993, with a study of the real estate market for 1992, 1993 and the first half of 1994.

Location, construction cost, construction quality and the current condition of structures were factors used to compare properties in various neighborhoods across the county.

Residents who do not agree with their reassessments can challenge them at any of eight special hearings, which will be held at the National Guard Armory in Rocky Mount starting Monday.

Other hearing dates are Tuesday and Feb. 15, 16, 20, 21, 22 and 23.

The hearings Monday and Feb. 15, 20 and 22 will run from 1 to 7 p.m. The others will begin at 9 a.m. and end at 4 p.m.

A computer printout of tax assessments, by name and tax map number, can be examined at the county's Reassessment Office on College Street in Rocky Mount, 483-2229.