Property reassessment to be conducted this year in Dinwiddie

DINWIDDIE -- The Dinwiddie County Board of Supervisors yesterday authorized the county administrator to conduct a property reassessment this year.

Supervisors also said they would like to hire their own assessor in the future and change the assessment cycle from every four years to every two.

The reassessment was approved in response to the 2008 process, which spurred public outrage and showed an average 50 percent jump in land values despite a struggling U.S. housing market.

The new assessment -- which is estimated to cost about $350,000 -- will be conducted between this fall and next fall, County Administrator W. Kevin Massengill said. It will apply to the tax rate in 2011. Residents will pay taxes based on the 2008 assessment for the next two years.

Some residents also have said the four-year cycle is too long and that taxpayers could adjust better in a shorter reassessment cycle that could be more reflective of the housing market, Massengill said.

Massengill said the board can decide whether to change to a two-year cycle as soon as it wants. A public hearing would be required before any change.

If the board decides to alter the cycle, it will have to decide whether to create an assessor's office, give the commissioner of revenue the responsibility to conduct the assessment, or hire a company to do it.

Massengill said he would not recommend creating an assessor's office because it would be costly. An assessor's office annual budget could start at $500,000, compared with the $350,000 that could be spent biennially if a company is hired, he said.

Contact Luz Lazo at (804) 649-6058 or .