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YOUR VIRGINIA: Second edition of the Virginia Homeowners Alliance newsletter covers the budget mess

YOUR VIRGINIA

The second edition of YOUR VIRGINIA, the Virginia Homeowners Alliance's e-mail newsletter is on the street. In this edition, we analyze what the Commonwealth's budget mess will mean for homeowners and bring you up to speed on the five bills affecting your home's value and property owner rights that we've been tracking during the General Assembly session.

Didn't get a copy? Check out the second edition now, and register at VAHomeownersAlliance.com to make sure you get the next one.

Posted on Thursday, February 25, 2010 - 1:32pm

Pittsylvania Agricultural Landowners Face Proposed Tax Increase

According to the Danville Register & Bee, Pittsylvania County is in an uproar over a proposed 20-cent property tax increase on agricultural landowners.  Currenty the county participates in Virginia's land use program, which allows it to tax agricultural land at a lower rate to incentivize agricultural uses.  The Board of Supervisors is opposed to the Commission of Revenue's recommendation. The increase would affect nearly 1,500 landowners in the county.

 

Read the full story...

Posted on Sunday, January 24, 2010 - 11:47am

Halifax Board to Hear Assessment Complaints

In early February, Halifax homeowners will have an oppportunity for their voices to be heard.  The Board of Equalization will convene to hear complaints from homeowners that disagree with their real estate assessments. Complaints may be submitted in writing or orally during the meeting.  The outcome of the meeting may result in a decrease, an increase or an affirmation of the assessment originally issued.  The hearing dates range from February 4- February 11 at various times. It is important for homeowners to ensure that their real estate assessment is accurate, as it affects the tax levied, but it may also impact the future sales price for re-sale purposes.

 

Read the Gazette-Virginian story for specifics...

Posted on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 - 5:02pm

Henrico Faces $20 Million Real Estate Shortfall Next Year

Henrico officials have been mum about the county's budget outlook until now, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The county is facing more than a $20 million shortfall in real estate tax revenue, but the Finance Director says he does not expect any major budget revisions.

"Henrico County is facing a projected shortfall in real estate tax revenue of more than $20 million next year, but the county's top finance official is optimistic about the future.

Finance Director John A. Vithoulkas said yesterday that he expects a 6.5 percent decrease in county real estate tax revenues for the budget year that begins on July 1. The drop is likely to be steepest for commercial properties. He said up to one-third of the commercial office space in Innsbrook is vacant.

'Going back over 30 years, we have not seen anything like what we are seeing now in the real estate market,' Vithoulkas said during a town hall meeting last night at Maybeury Elementary School in western Henrico.

At the same time, however, Vithoulkas said, the county has been buffered from much more severe economic problems because of a sales tax windfall of up to $8 million a year from its decision to change a number of ZIP Code addresses from Richmond to Henrico.

He also said the county protected itself by capping spending during financially flush times."

Read the full story.

Posted on Thursday, October 8, 2009 - 4:05pm

Virginia Beach City Council Ponders Taxes, Fees

Virginia Beach City Council is faced with a budget shortfall for their 2010-11 budget, and are attempting to solve the problem with either an increase in real estate tax or in a monthly garbage fee, according to The Virginian-Pilot.

Council members also dismissed a proposal to spend $95 million on seven big projects, including an animal shelter, recreation center, road construction and development of the former Dome site.

Homeowners need to get involved with their council now to be part of these discussions. While it is vital for the city to meet their budget needs to provide services to residents, there may be other ways to do so without further taxing homeowners, especially as the housing market is turning around and home values should be increasing over the next couple of years.

"Residents are unlikely to see their tax bills go down again next year.

Faced with a potential $49 million shortfall in the 2010- 11 budget, council members Tuesday floated the idea of raising the real estate tax rate and charging user fees for items such as trash pickup and ambulance service.

'We need further evaluation,' said Mayor Will Sessoms of the ideas discussed. 'This is a starting point.'

The City Council didn't commit to any one idea to fill the hole, but it instructed staff to study, for example, the budget impacts of raising the property tax rate by 2 cents to 91 cents for $100 of assessed value or charging an $8 monthly garbage fee. Virginia Beach doesn't have a separate fee for garbage."

Read the full story.

Posted on Thursday, October 8, 2009 - 3:47pm

Staunton Residents Will Pay a Little More in Real Estate Tax Next Year

Stauton City Councile recently approved a $94.2 million budget for the next fiscal year, according to the News Virginian.

The budget includes a 90-cent real estate tax, up 3 cents. This is obviously a concern to homeowners who will experience an increase in their real estate tax bill next year, however, hopefully the increased rates will help support services and programs that will improve the quality of living for Staunton residents.

"By a 5-2 vote, the Staunton City Council adopted on Thursday a $94.2 million fiscal year 2010 budget with a 90-cent real estate tax rate.

At the regular meeting in Staunton’s City Hall, Mayor Lacy King and Councilman Dickie Bell voted against the budget, both wishing to see a lower tax rate.

King said he realized the city could not equalize the tax rate because of an uncertain future with continued declines in state revenue – including a 21 percent drop in state tax revenue for April – that could force the city to cut its 2010 budget later this year. However, he believed the city could have cut the $177,629 necessary to reduce the tax rate from 90 cents per $100 of assessed value to 89 cents.

'I felt like we could have found one cent on the tax rate,' King said.

The tax rate represents a 3.4 percent tax increase over the revenue-neutral rate of 87-cents. The real estate tax bill on a $225,000 home will increase by $67.50 to $2,025 yearly.

Bell wanted an equalized tax rate of 87 cents to 'ease the burden' on residents. That rate would have necessitated further cuts of an additional $532,887. He said he could not support a 90-cent rate."

Read the full story.

Posted on Wednesday, October 7, 2009 - 9:34pm

Cape Charles Residents Wonder About Services and Taxes

Recently Cape Charles officials met with Northampton County officials to discuss why Cape Charles residents comprise about 9 percent of the county's population, but pay 22 percent of the county's real-estate taxes.

Homeowners in Cape Charles can appreciate their town officials speaking out on their behalf. County officials responded by saying residents can not expect to receive dollar-for-dollar return on their taxes because that is not how the Commonwealth operates, and that Cape Charles residents receive many county-wide and regional services.

"Cape Charles residents comprise about 9 percent of the county's population and pay 22 percent of real-estate taxes in Northampton County.

The Board of Supervisors held a rare joint meeting with the Cape Charles Town Council on Thursday to discuss county tax revenues generated by the town and what services town taxpayers can expect in return.

'Is Cape Charles going to continue to be the cash cow?' Town Councilman Larry Veber asked.

'We've raised our water, we've raised our sewer, we've raised our garbage,' Veber said of the cost of town services. 'Now we've raised taxes. Residents ask me, "What do we get in return?" Help us understand so we can go back to our people and say, "This is what we've got, folks."'

Members of the board of supervisors, while acknowledging the county needs to find new revenue sources, cautioned against expecting dollar-for-dollar services for their tax investment. Officials also said the county is trying to lessen the tax burden dependence on real-estate and personal property taxes, which account for 80 percent of county revenues, by creating new revenue streams.

The county has not yet adopted a policy, but County Administrator Katie Nunez suggested a healthy tax approach is to move toward 70 percent residential vs. 30 percent commercial."

Read full story.

Posted on Wednesday, September 2, 2009 - 7:50pm

Real Estate Reassessments Started in Montgomery County

Real estate assessors have started work in Montgomery County this month, according to the Roanoke Times. The assessors have been hired from Danville to establish fair-market values for the reassessments. Property owners will receive notices of the assessed values in November of 2010. As of now, it is too early to see how property taxes will be impacted.

"Assessors started visiting properties in Montgomery County this month as part of the real estate reassessment process.

And next year, property owners will get a better sense of how that process will affect their dollars and cents when they receive notices of their new assessed values.

The county has hired Wampler-Eanes Appraisal Group Ltd. of Daleville to conduct the 2011 general reassessment, and the firm will examine sales data and visit more than 37,000 parcels to establish fair-market values for the reassessment, according to county information.

Appraisers began their study Aug. 3 to verify information for properties sold during the past 18 months. Every property will be viewed by an assessor between now and fall 2010, and the appraisal firm also will verify property information, such as square feet and number of bedrooms and baths.

Property owners will then receive notices of the assessed values in November 2010.

County officials said it's too early to tell whether property owners will see an increase in property taxes."

Read full story.

Posted on Friday, August 28, 2009 - 6:41pm

Rockingham Residents Will Vote on Meal Tax which Could Prevent Real Estate Tax Increase

To prevent a raise in real estate and property taxes to help fund new schools, Rockingham County officials are attempting to enact a 4 percent meals tax, according to The Daily News Record. Officials are hoping the meal tax from tourists in the county and at Massanutten will cover about 60 percent of the cost needed to operate current schools.

This is the second time county officials have attempted to get the meal tax approved, and this time voted to place the issue on November's ballot. Which makes it an important issue for homeowners to be aware of and to discuss with other voters to ensure that funding new schools does not become a burden on property and homeowners.

"Officials in Rockingham County are going to try for a second time to get out-of-towners to help pay for new schools.

On Wednesday, the Board of Supervisors took the first step to enact a 4 percent meals tax. The board unanimously approved a resolution to petition the Rockingham County Circuit Court to place the tax on the November ballot.

If certified by the judge and approved by voters in November, county officials say the meals tax will raise an estimated $600,000 needed for operations at Cub Run Elementary, River Bend Elementary and East Rockingham High schools.

Supervisors say they like this type of tax because tourists at Massanutten and other visitors to the county would pay about 60 percent of it.

The tax would not apply to restaurants located inside towns or for nonprofit fundraisers, such as food vendors at the county fair."

Read full story.

Posted on Friday, August 28, 2009 - 6:29pm

Portsmouth Prepares to Audit Assessment Office

Today the Virginian-Pilot reported that Portsmouth officials are requesting an audit of assessments performed in the last fiscal year to determin if the assessments were satisfactory and met industry standards.

Currently the city is seeking a contractor to analyze the assessment office's methods, management, technology and appeals process. They will stop accepting bids for the project at the end of the month, and then will move forward with selecting a contractor and starting the audit.

Audits of this nature are typical when there is a change in leadership to ensure that proper procedures and operations were used. The city conducted a similar audit five years ago when there was a change in leadership at the assessment office. Efforts like this are done in the interests of homeowners to ensure that the process to determining their tax payments are fair and just.

"City officials are requesting an audit of assessments performed in the last fiscal year by the city assessor's office.

The city issued a request for proposals Aug. 15 to determine whether those assessments were satisfactory and met industry standards.

City leaders are also asking a contractor to analyze the office's assessment methods, management practices, technology and appeals process. Sealed bids are due by Aug. 31."

Read full story.

Posted on Friday, August 28, 2009 - 11:20am