ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, April 16, 1996                TAG: 9604160083
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER 

ROANOKE COUNTY ASKS CLOSER LOOK AT ASSESSMENTS HODGE WANTS TO MAKE SURE PROCESS IS FAIR

In the wake of Roanoke County voters' rejection of a $37 million school bond referendum, county officials want to review what may have been a factor in its defeat: real estate taxes.

County Administrator Elmer Hodge said Friday he will ask the state Department of Taxation to expand its normal review of the county's real estate assessments.

The annual review, which begins this week in Roanoke County, looks at how closely a locality assesses real estate to its market value.

The state requires localities to assess property at its full market value.

But Hodge is asking the state to look at the other side of that issue - to assure homeowners that the county's assessment process is fair to them.

"If there's a way for us to improve the process, we want to do that," Hodge said.

John Birckhead, county director of real estate assessments, said the last study by the state showed that Roanoke County was assessing at about 88.5 percent of market value.

The assessments sent out this year averaged 94 percent of market value, based on 1995 sales, Birckhead said. The percentage may be lower when the state conducts its review, however, because it will compare the assessments with 1996 sales.

Birckhead's office takes complaints from homeowners claiming unfair assessments; those that cannot be resolved are reviewed by the court-appointed Board of Equalization.

But the number of complaints made to the real estate assessment office has increased only slightly from last year.

Higher assessments and the possibility of a real estate tax increase to fund the school bonds created more of an awareness among county residents, Birckhead said.

Complaints in letters to the editor, public hearings and community meetings during the bond referendum campaign magnified the issue of higher assessments, said Anne Marie Green, the county's director of community relations.

"We're saying, 'Our citizens are upset because assessments have gone up. What can we do to make them understand better?''' she said.

LENGTH: Short :   47 lines