ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 19, 1997 TAG: 9701200062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON and CHRISTINA NUCKOLS STAFF WRITERS
If you're still trying to shake that post-holiday gloom, you might want to stay away from your mailbox.
Homeowners in Roanoke, Salem and Roanoke County are getting notices this month telling them how much more they'll be paying in real estate taxes for the 1997-98 tax year.
Here's a summary of what to expect:
* Roanoke - Excluding new construction, overall assessments in Roanoke are up 3.1percent, City Assessor Will Claytor said. That means if you live in a home valued at $80,000 and you pay $984 in taxes now, you can expect to pay approximately $30 more this year.
How much more will depend on what improvements you've made to your home in the past year and where you live in the city. Areas with the highest assessment increases tend to be where houses are selling best. In Roanoke that's in the Raleigh Court and South Roanoke areas, Claytor said.
The actual percentage increase will vary from home to home, but Claytor said most increases will be below 5 percent.
When new construction values are added in, the total increase in assessments for the city is 4.1percent, which would boost revenues by $1.29 million, Claytor said. City councils and county boards of supervisors must hold public hearings later this year if they do not adjust their tax rates downward to match growth in the reassessment.
* Salem - Property values in Salem increased 6.8 percent overall. The increase represents two years' worth of growth because Salem did not reassess properties last year.
The owner of an $80,000 home who now pays $944 in real estate taxes would typically pay $60 to $65 more.
New construction totaling $25 million pushed the growth to 9.6 percent for the two-year period, said Wendell Ingram, Salem's assessment director.
Ingram said the increase is a little higher than the 1995 reassessment, but is less than previous reassessments.
The biggest increases were in residential property. Salem's residential market has been strong, Ingram said, while commercial property has seen less appreciation.
Salem's taxable real estate broke the $1billion mark for the first time.
* Roanoke County - The county's assessed property values will increase 3.32 percent without new construction, County Assessor John Birckhead said. In comparison, the countywide increase in assessments in 1996 was 4.08 percent.
Using the same $80,000 home, the current tax in Roanoke County would be $904. Taxes would increase by about $30 because of the reassessment.
Most homeowners will see an increase ranging from 2 percent to 10 percent this year, Birckhead said.
In the county it's the newer subdivisions like those off of Cotton Hill Road and Virginia 24 in East County that fuel assessments in the 10 percent range, Birckhead said.
When new construction is added in, the overall increase in property values for the county is 4.93 percent, which would boost county revenues by about $2 million, according to preliminary estimates. That's down from $2.5 million in new dollars last year.
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