ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 3, 1997 TAG: 9703030096
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FINCASTLE
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
CARS IN BOTETOURT COUNTY won't be worth what they used to be on the annual personal property tax bill. The amount of tax due on them will not go down much, though.
The assessed value of that fancy 1994 Dodge Ram three-quarter-ton pickup you bought to haul you around Botetourt County is going down this year. Way down.
How does a drop from $14,350 to $10,775 sound? That's a 25 percent decrease.
But it doesn't mean you'll be paying less tax on it. The Botetourt tax rate will be going up to make sure the county takes in about the same amount of money it is used to.
The change is a move by Botetourt Commissioner of Revenue Jay Etzler. Weary of the complaints he's always fielding about how unfair assessments are, Etzler has changed the way he's assessing the value of vehicles for personal property taxes.
Instead of going by the retail value listed in the National Automobile Dealers Association guidebook, 1997 assessments will be based on the loan value.
That means an average 30 percent decrease in assessed values for cars listed on the decal applications that most Botetourt County residents will receive in the mail today.
The idea is to value cars at something closer to their actual market value.
"Retail typically overvalues everything," Etzler said. Loan value, the amount a bank will likely lend to purchase a particular model car, "more fairly assesses the value." Loan value is the lowest price listed in the NADA guide.
So that 1979 Ford LTD two-door that would have been assessed at $925 this year will be valued at $225.
The county, however, depends on a certain amount of income from taxes. Keeping the current $1.80 per $100 tax rate while valuing cars so much lower would put a serious ding in the annual budget.
That means that when they settle on a new budget this spring, the supervisors likely will vote to increase the tax rate to offset the lower assessments.
Exactly what the new tax rate will be has not been determined, but County Administrator Jerry Burgess said the plan is to ensure the county gets the same revenue or a little less.
Most people will pay the same or less tax on vehicles they owned last year, he said.
"I'm glad to hear it," said Emerson Lamb, a retired postmaster from Blue Ridge.
He was one of the many residents who have from time to time swarmed the commissioner of revenue's office demanding a more realistic valuation of their cars.
He got a little bothered last year when the 1994 Ford Taurus with high mileage a dealer listed at $11,990 was valued at $15,500 by the county. "I just couldn't feel comfortable with it," he said.
He wasn't looking for a lower tax bill, just a better assessment.
"You don't expect to ever get a tax break," he said. "Taxes are the only thing that stays with you."
John Price, also of Blue Ridge, called the change "a move in the right direction."
In 1996, his 7-year-old Dodge Daytona with 110,000 miles was valued by the county at $4,200. That's $250 more than his insurance company said the car was worth when it was totaled five years ago.
Both Lamb and Price got their assessments reduced after appealing to Etzler, and Etzler said that inconvenience to taxpayers and the time it takes his office is part of the problem with assessing the cars at retail value.
Assessing vehicles closer to actual market value in the first place, he said, would eliminate the need for many of those adjustments.
Botetourt was one of seven localities in Virginia still assessing vehicles at retail value, Etzler said. Other Roanoke Valley governments have long used loan value.
The only people who will not see a change in their assessments this year are people with new cars or ones too old to be listed in the NADA book.
New cars will be taxed at 90 percent of their purchase price, while the tax on old ones will be the minimum allowed.
So all you folks still clinging to a 1979 Ford Pinto, rest easy. You can write your check for $6.12.
LENGTH: Medium: 85 linesby CNB