Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The local fight against unreasonable taxation continues...

Attorney threatens to sue county officials Churchville lawyer says reassessments are not accurate By Trevor Brown/staff • tbrown@newsleader.com • January 28, 2009

VERONA — An area lawyer is considering filing a class-action lawsuit against Augusta County if officials do not roll back the 2009 reassessments.
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Churchville attorney Francis Chester said the assessments, which were mailed last week, are unfair and do not represent the actual market value of many properties. He called on county residents to join his petition and lobby county officials to disregard the reassessments, which increased an average 27.7 percent for home prices and 42.3 percent for commercial values, and return to the 2005 values.

"This is insane and the assessments are absolutely unreliable," he said. "If people don't stand up for their rights, they will be lambs to the slaughter."

Chester said he was "floored" when he received his assessment, which reflected an increase from $19,200 to $53,800 for the value of one of his properties and a 120 percent increase for another he owns. He said his initial research convinced him many others also think their new assessments are not legitimate.

He said he will begin circulating a petition in local businesses throughout the county and encourage residents to appeal their reassessment to qualify for a possible lawsuit. He said his law office is prepared to take legal action if the Board of Supervisors does not repeal the reassessments.

County Attorney Patrick Morgan said he is skeptical Chester's strategy is the best route to find tax relief, noting that the Board of Supervisors does not set the reassessment values.

"The board does have the authority to set the tax rate to make the taxes equal to what it was before the reassessment," he said. "I think if there is to be any relief, that is the best way to achieve that."

A further legal obstacle for Chester will be the state law that requires localities with the population of Augusta County to conduct reassessments every four years. In October, Supervisor Tracy Pyles argued the board ignore this law, which would cause the county to forfeit $38,000 from its share of net profits of the operation of the alcoholic beverage control system. However, the rest of the board unanimously rejected the proposal.

Chester argued his legal action would not violate the state law, because he said the reassessments do not reflect the actual market values as they are required to do. He said he can produce a line of real estate experts that can testify that values are much lower than the assessed figures.

Board of Assessors co-Chairman Walter Brown encouraged those, like Chester, who are unhappy with their reassessments to appeal the values with the Board of Assessors. He also said Blue Ridge Mass Appraisal, which conducted the county's reassessment work, performed its job properly.

"I believe the methodology used by Blue Ridge Mass Appraisal is solid," he said. "They met the standards to be fair, and I'm comfortable with the results."

I'm glad the co-chair of the Board of Assessors is comfortable with the reassessment. Ii suppose he is also comfortable with incompetence...

There is no way that my mother's property increased in value from $214,000 to $314,000 in 4 years. The building has deteriorated, the pasture land is marginal, it won't support another construction and the woodland is on rock. Clearly, the appraisal company never bothered to look at the property.

I must note that some folks claim it isn't the assessment that's the problem but the rate. To maintain Mother's tax payment amount, the rate would have to be reduced to $.39 per hundred. I don't see that happening. I don't see the property being valued at $314,000. The combination of tax rate and assessment amounts to a tax increase. I believe that it is an UNFAIR tax increase. Theft by the government.

Oh, there is an appeals process. The burden of proof is on the victim (tax payer) not on the government to show that the assessed value isn't correct. To do that one must either compare to other assessed values of comparable properties or show that actual sale prices of comparable properties don't reflect assessed values. That is a losing proposition for the property owner/taxpayer. Why? Well, in the first case ALL assessed values have been increased a like amount and second there are no recent sales because the market is very depressed. In other words, there's nothing to which a valid comparison can be made. The deck is stacked in favor of the government (which looks less and less to be "by, for, and of the people" every single day).

Labels: AugustaCountyReassessment, Politics