Reassessment jumps draw complaints

by Larry Chowning – 

The Middlesex County Board of Supervisors (MCBS) was told Tuesday, Dec. 7, that about 100 property owners have complained about the recent reassessment of their property values, which according to County Administrator Matt Walker is a small number.

At the Dec. 7 supervisors meeting, Tammie Putney, who owns a home and several rental properties in the county said his properties jumped in value by the recent reassessment from 18% to 47%.

He complained that he felt this was too high of an increase and he hoped the board would lower the tax rate to keep taxes from going up.

Later in the meeting, Pinetop District supervisor Lud Kimbrough explained that he felt most increases in assessed property values can be explained. He said assessed values are determined by the real property sales, which is determined by comparable sales of real estate of that property.

He noted that he has compared actual sales with assessed values of several properties in the eastern end of the county by reading the sales of those properties in the Oct. 14 issue of the Southside Sentinel. He said he found these properties worth $3.8 million in assessed value sold in September for $5.3 million.

“That tells me if people have received a large assessment on their property it reflects how the current (real estate) market is behaving,” said Kimbrough.

Harmony Village supervisor Reggie Williams said that the tax rate can be lowered but the amount of taxes needed to run the county is “budget driven,” which is directly tied to spending. “If we want to keep taxes down, we need to address spending…” he said.