Local real estate assessments generally unchanged

The real estate slump isn't catching up with local property tax assessments, which are essentially unchanged.

The counties of Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover saw slight decreases in assessment values, while Richmond had a slight increase.

In most of the nine localities in the region that reassessed this year, overall property values -- and real estate tax bills -- barely changed from their previous levels even though the state Realtors association reported a 14 percent drop in average fourth-quarter sales prices in the Richmond area compared with the year before.

An exception was Dinwiddie County, which did its first reassessment in four years and saw an average 47.4 percent jump in value for existing homes. That startled some residents.

"It's very, very unfair," said Charles Harrison, a 40-year county resident who owns Harrison's Supermarket near the Petersburg city line. "There's swamp land they're saying is three to four times what it's worth. . . .

"I have 8 acres of dry land I've had on the market for three years for $275,000, and [the assessment] went up from $209,000 to $397,000 -- nearly double."

Concern over the rise prompted the Dinwiddie Board of Supervisors to schedule another assessment for later this year.

"People here are very upset, very upset," said Frank M. Moore, who moved back to the county two years ago when he inherited a house and 10 acres on the edge of Fort Pickett.

His assessment jumped from $62,000 to $136,000. "I painted the outside of my dwelling. That's everything I did," Moore said.

Over the past few years, the Richmond region generally has seen double-digit growth in assessed property values. Dinwiddie's tax rolls did not reflect that because the county had not done a reassessment since 2005.

Hopewell, which assesses its real estate tax base every two years, saw a 19.8 percent increase this year. Goochland County's total tax base also increased, but the county assessor could not provide a breakdown of how much existing residential real estate values changed, despite repeated requests.

"The market is down, according to [Realtors data]. But according to the assessor, it is holding its own," said Bill Phillips, a 14-year resident of the Maidens area in Goochland.

He said lots in his subdivision saw a $25,000 increase in land value, which boosted his total assessment by 7 percent.

When Dinwiddie, Hopewell and Goochland are excluded, assessed property values declined 1 percent across the other six localities in the Richmond region that reassessed this year.

The region's strong growth in assessed values before this year has meant rising property-tax bills, even though local elected officials regularly cut the rate at which they calculate taxes.

Even with the softer market, new construction completed last year will boost the total tax base of several localities -- Richmond, for instance will see its total tax base increase 5 percent.

This year, while assessed values on existing homes are generally down, local officials say they are not inclined to increase tax rates. By comparison, Fairfax County proposed raising its rate by 13 percent to $1.04 per $100 of assessed value.

"We're going to make it work with what we've got," Henrico County Manager Virgil R. Hazelett said. "When I look at what they're talking about with tax rates in Northern Virginia, that's just not something you can do to people."

Contact David Ress at (804) 649-6051 or .