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Assessments decline in Fredericksburg Date published: 5/2/2009
BY EMILY BATTLE
The total value of taxable property in Fredericksburg declined by 12.7 percent over the past two years, according to the results of the city's most recent assessment. Property owners should begin receiving notices of their new assessed values Monday, and perhaps as early as today. The change in values mirrors what other Virginia localities that have reassessed this year have found. It's a different story from the city's last reassessment, in 2007. That assessment showed that city property values had increased by 114 percent since 2003. After 2007, the city switched to a two-year assessment schedule. Most of the decline in value came from single-family residential properties in the city, which overall declined by 24 percent. Commercial property held fairly steady, showing a small, 0.23 percent decline. The City Council's current budget proposal calls for it to raise the real estate tax rate to make up for the loss in value, and then add some to bring in $1.6 million in new revenue. It would take a tax rate of 65 cents per $100 of value to bring in the same amount of revenue as the current 56-cent rate brings in on the pre-assessment values. It would take a rate of 70.5 cents to bring in what the council needs to fund its current budget proposal, compared to the 60-cent rate they had been talking about under the pre-assessment values. Every neighborhood will show a different trend, but the median value of a single-family home in Fredericksburg declined from $359,800 to $273,000. That change in value would yield a tax bill that would be 4.5 percent lower under the proposed 70.5-cent rate. That trend won't apply to every homeowner, though, as individual property values will change by different rates. City residents can weigh in on the tax rate at a public hearing on June 9 at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall. Residents can appeal their new assessed values much sooner than that. City property owners can call the real estate office in City Hall at 540/372-1207 to appeal their assessed value to Blue Ridge Mass Appraisal Co., the firm that performed the reassessment. The city will set up hearings with Blue Ridge that will be held in room 101 of City Hall, beginning May 18. Property owners have until May 22 to make an appointment to speak to the assessor. This is the first of two levels of appeal available to city property owners. Later this year, the Circuit Court will appoint a board of equalization, which will hold its own hearings on assessments.
Emily Battle: 540/374-5413
Read more stories about Fredericksburg Date published: 5/2/2009
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