Reassessments have now been completed in Washington County, Virginia, resulting in a controversial hike in property values.
Most residential properties increased in value by 60% to 70%, said Fred Pearson, owner of the appraisal company that handled the most recent assessments for the county.
Four years earlier, Pearson’s company conducted an assessment in which properties rose by 20%, Pearson said.
“I think we have property appraised at close to market value now,” Pearson told the Washington County board of Supervisors at Tuesday’s meeting in Abingdon, Virginia.
Reassessment hearings included 3,400 appointments for about 5,600 parcels, Pearson said.
“If we have something wrong, we adjust it,” Pearson said. “We hope to get the notices from the hearings out soon.”
Such assessments, conducted every four years, are used to determine property values which are then used by county officials to determine an owner’s property tax.
Reassessments are also state-mandated.
Both county leaders and residents have complained that the recent round of assessments jumped too much. Members of the Board of Supervisors also encouraged property owners to appeal their valuations.
“I apologize,” Pearson said. “It’s not easy on the board. It’s not easy on the county staff. It’s not easy on my staff. It’s definitely not easy on the property owners.”
Yet, property values appear to have increased across Virginia, Supervisor Phil McCall said.
“It’s just the market,” Pearson explained. “It’s what property has been selling for the last four years here.”
On the county’s southeastern corner, however, the natural disaster of Hurricane Helene flooded Damascus — and destroying the eastern half of the Virginia Creeper Trail — surely must have affected property values, Board Vice Chariman Mike Rush said.
Federal money has been earmarked to rebuild the recreation trail in the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, but that could take as long as five years to complete, Rush surmised.
But, because the real estate market follows the Virginia Creeper Trail, it would make sense that properties in the greater Damascus area now have less value than before the storm, Rush said.
Pearson said adjustments had been made for that, citing some business owners saying that their activity had “just gone to nothing since the flood and we made an adjustment for that.”
Land values were also reduced, due to flooding.
“It makes a big difference in the value,” Pearson said.
Flooding inside a home also gives it a stigma, and it may be hard to sell, Pearson said.
Normally, if a house floods inside, the value will be reduced by 75 percent, Pearson said.
“We just have to reflect what things are selling for” Pearson said. “We just take the average sales price.”
Property owners can still appeal the value of their parcels through the Board of Equalization.
“That’s the next step,” Pearson said. “When they receive their notice and they’re not pleased with what we’ve done, they can appeal to the Board of Equalization.”
Pearson also suggested the county should handle reassessments more frequently — not ever four years. “People can take small increases a lot easier than a big increase.”