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By Monty Tayloe
Rappahanrtock News Staff Writer
At Monday’s Rappahannock County Board Of Supervisors meeting, Wakefield District Supervisor Roger Welch broke from the agenda to ask a question.
“How can we issue another assessment after we’ve already set the tax rate?” asked Welch.
Welch was speaking of the estimated 1,500 letters that have been sent out by the Office of the Commissioner of Revenue notifying some Rappahannock County land owners that the assessed value of their real estate has been changed by the Board of Equalization since the assessment earlier this year. Much of the real estate affected by the changes has increased or decreased in taxable value by thousands of dollars, and early evidence points to an overall increase and higher taxes for most of those affected. Rappahannock County taxpayers have already dealt with a reassessment year in which many land values doubled and property taxes increased by almost 20 percent, making the Board of Equalization’s activity particularly unwelcome in most cases.
The response to the adjusted assessments has been largely negative, with landowners complaining at the Office of the Commissioner of Revenue in Little Washington, the editorial page of The Rappahannock News, and to their district supervisors.
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However, despite Welch’s terminology, the activity of the Board of Equalization is not “another assessment.” It’s the normal final stage of the reassessment process, and it happens every time there is a reassessment, about every two to five years. Last fall, the Board of Assessors and the county’s appraisal company, Blue Ridge Mass Appraisals, assessed the real estate in the county, and determined the taxable value of county land. The appraisal company performed quick checks of every property in the county, and the BOA determined the monetary value of certain features, like gravel driveways or proximity to a main road. This information was used to create the assessed tax value of county real estate, and notices were sent to landowners at the beginning of2006.
In June, the Board of Supervisors set this year’s real estate tax rate at $.58 per $100.00 of real estate value. After the tax rate was set, the Board of Equalization’s function begins. The BOE is appointed by the Circuit Court, and can contain from three to five mem
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