Montgomery County will be beginning the yearlong process of reassessing property values Monday according to a county press release.
Wampler-Eanes Appraisal Group Ltd. has been hired to visit the nearly 38,000 parcels in the county to determine fair market value that will go into effect Jan. 1, 2019. The Daleville firm did the 2015 reassessments as well.
Fair market value is defined as the amount a typical, well-informed purchaser would be willing to pay for a property, under the following conditions: the seller and buyer must be unrelated, the seller must be willing, but not under undue pressure to sell and the buyer must be willing, but not under any obligation to buy, the property must be on the market for a reasonable length of time and the payment must be in cash or its equivalent, and the financing, if required, must be typical for that type of property.
The County is required by state law to reassess properties at 100 percent of market value at least every four years. The reassessed value and the real estate tax rate are used to determine real estate tax bills. Property owners will receive notices of the new assessed values in fall 2018.
The reassessed property values will go into effect Jan. 1, 2019, and will remain in effect until the next reassessment.
Field workers will start to visit every taxable and nontaxable property in the County over the next year to verify property information, such as square feet and number of bedrooms and baths. Workers will have County identification badges and cars marked “County Reassessment.”
Field supervisors, who often will not need to leave their vehicle to talk to the property owner unless there is a question, review the work of field inspectors.
Data collection is entered into the mass appraisal system and accuracy validated. Neighborhood sales, land values, yearly appreciation trends and other data are analyzed throughout the process.
If an owner is not present at the time of the visit, a notice will be left on the door indicating the property has been inspected. If additional data is needed or the owner has any pertinent information which can affect the value of their property, residents may call 394-3126, email reassessment@montgomerycountyva.gov or write P.O. Box 6064, Christiansburg, VA 24068.
A property owner has the right to appeal their property tax assessment. The burden of proof, however, will be on the property owner to prove why they should have their assessment changed.
Any appeals that are not resolved by the Reassessment Office may be reviewed by the Board of Equalization.
The final appeal after the Board of Equalization would be to petition the Montgomery County Circuit Court for judicial review. The Code of Virginia provides all property owners the opportunity to appeal an unfair reassessment through the Circuit Court system.
To learn more about reassessment and where appraisers are working throughout the process, visit www.montgomerycountyva.gov/reassessment.
