Reassessments frustrate many

Reassessment notices hit Augusta County property owners with a wallop when they went to the mailbox Saturday.

Melissa Avey, of Deerfield, had followed the reports of a 27.7 percent average increase on residential properties in the county, but got the surprise of her life when she opened her mail.

She and husband Michael’s 100-year-old home on 50 acres went from $177,000 to $280,000, a 58.6 percent increase over the last reassessment four years ago.

That would take the couple’s annual tax bill from $1,026 to $1,624, based on the current rate of 58 cents per $100 of assessed value.

“I was prepared for an increase, but this was a shock,” she said. “We’re not talking about an area where it’s really building up. We’re talking about western Augusta County with no real development and farmland.”

Avey said she might have expected such an increase had her home been in a more developed area such as Stuarts Draft or Fishersville.

The total values for properties listed with a Fishersville address in county assessment documents showed total increased values of 26 percent. Total values for Stuarts Draft properties increased by 24 percent. Deerfield properties went up 23 percent.

Steeles Tavern resident Cliff Cempe said he was unhappy about the assessment on both his home and commercial property he owns in Fishersville.

Cempe said he couldn’t understand how less than an acre of commercial land he owns in Fishersville could increase from $100,000 to $240,000, and how his home in Steeles Tavern could increase 45 percent.

“I’m irate about both,” he said. “We’re in a time when all properties in the U.S. are degrading.”

Cempe, 76, said he has lost about 45 percent on the value of his investments.

“Property owners can’t run the whole county by themselves,” said Cempe, who plans to appeal his assessments to the county board of assessors. “They need to cut the county expenses or find taxation some other way.”

Cempe said he appealed to the county board of assessors four years ago and did not get any lowering of the assessments.

In Fishersville, Fred Grunder wondered how the value of his house could increase $40,000 in a troubled economy and housing market.

“I’m the welcoming committee for the neighborhood and one house has been sold in a year. A couple of them are empty,” said Grunder, who is affiliated with the Emerald Hills Homeowners Association in Fishersville.

A fellow Emerald Hills resident took a pragmatic view of the reassessment.

“My feeling is there is a need for a certain amount of funds in the community to support the different agencies. That money has to be raised through the value or the tax rate,” said Glenn Butler, who saw his property assessed at a 23 percent higher rate.

Butler said if county taxpayers are not happy with their officeholders, they should run for office.

“I have no issue with the assessment,” he said.

Florence Ayers said she doubted she and husband Roy could sell their three-bedroom house and half-acre of land behind Ace Hardware in Stuarts Draft for its $185,600 reassessed value.

“I’m surprised how much it went up,” said Ayers, who hopes Augusta County supervisors will lower the tax rate.

The supervisor who has consistently preached lowering the tax rate continued to advocate that move Saturday.

“Instead of putting people through the ringer with reassessment challenges, the board should just adjust the tax rate to make it revenue neutral,” said Pastures Supervisor Tracy Pyles.

If the tax rate remains the same, the owner of a $150,000 house with an average increase would have a value of $191,000 and tax increase of $240 to $1,108.

Pyles said he also continues to believe that assessment values are a constantly moving target and the values reflected in the assessments “are not accurate to judge for the next four years.”

Appeals of assessments will start Monday morning at the Augusta County Government Center in Verona.

Initial appeals will be handled as walk-ins, but appointments will be needed on subsequent days.

Pyles expects the debate about lowering the tax rate to resume when supervisors meet Wednesday night.

“We need to let our spending conform to the money we will get in rather than raise money to deem what we spend,” he said.

Filing appeals

Appeals will be handled by the Augusta County Board of Assessors, a seven-member board representing each of the county’s seven magisterial districts.