ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 24, 1996 TAG: 9601240064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
If you're a Roanoke homeowner, chances are the value of your property has gone up over the past year. And it's going to cost you.
Real estate assessments, those annual reminders that are about as welcome as the stomach flu, began arriving in city mailboxes this week.
On average, city homeowners' property values climbed 4.1 percent in the past year, said Will Claytor, director of real estate valuation.
Without a cut in the real estate tax rate, that means residential and commercial property owners will pay the city about $1.3 million more in taxes next fiscal year, said City Finance Director Jim Grisso.
The notices already have generated a flurry of appeals by property owners. City Council members, meanwhile, are girding themselves for complaining calls from citizens.
"Oh, brother," Councilwoman Elizabeth Bowles said on Monday, after she'd received one phone call from a "very unhappy" constituent.
"I think lots of people are unhappy and lots of people are going to be unhappy," Bowles said.
On average, the increase means:
Real estate taxes for a home assessed at $50,000 last year will jump about $25, from $615 to $640.
If your house was assessed at $85,000 last year, your annual taxes will climb about $44, from $1,044 to $1,088.
The owner of a home assessed at $125,000 in 1995 will see the tax bill rise from $1,537 to $1,601, an increase of $64.
But because assessment increases were higher in some areas and lower in others, the impact on your tax bill will vary, Claytor said.
For instance, property values in South Roanoke, Old Southwest, Raleigh Court, Grandin Court and the Deyerle area increased at a higher-than-average rate.
Conversely, real estate values in such neighborhoods as Gainsboro, Loudon-Melrose, the southern end of Williamson Road and in Belmont rose at a slower clip.
And folks in the Southeast community of Garden City, which was ravaged by flooding last spring, saw hardly any change, Claytor said.
"We didn't make any changes in Garden City - unless a homeowner made improvements beyond repairing damage from the flood - because we didn't have a handle on the market," Claytor said. "We didn't have enough sales to judge."
Overall, city property values jumped about $106 million because of reassessments this year, Claytor said. That doesn't include $40 million in new construction.
City property owners have until Feb. 15 to appeal their assessments.
The higher tax payments will begin July 1, when the city begins its new budget year.
Based on the average 4.1 percent increase in assessed values, City Council could cut the tax rate from $12.30 per $1,000 assessed value to $11.90. But the prospect of a rate reduction is looking increasingly dim.
Council in December asked state lawmakers from the Roanoke Valley for legislation creating a transportation district and allowing a 2 percent tax on gasoline this year to replace shrinking federal funds for Valley Metro.
Under current law, if a local gas tax were levied, council would have to cut the real estate tax rate. Although the bill was introduced Monday, even its sponsor says its chances are slim.
"I do not have high hopes for a transportation district to go through this year," said state Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke. He has also introduced a resolution calling for a study of a regional transportion district.
In Roanoke County, the value of residential properties jumped between 2 percent and 10 percent this year, said John Birckhead, the county's director of real estate property valuation.
In Salem, assessments aren't changing this year - because that city. Salem reassesses property every two years.
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