Yesterday 37,159 notices of reassessment were mailed to all owners of taxable real estate in Montgomery County.
Reassessment takes place every four years in a process that takes well over a year with the help of an outside firm. Appraisers began evaluating properties last fall.
These reassessment notices are not tax bills but statements of reassessed value showing the current fair market value for property and improvements.
An increase or decrease in assessed value does not necessarily mean that the amount owed in real estate taxes will change.
The board of supervisors will set the real estate tax rate as part of its budget process in spring 2019. The current rate is $.89 cents per $100 of assessed value, or $890 per $100,000.
More information about real estate assessment and the informal hearing schedule will be available Oct. 15 at www.montva.com.
Key dates and deadlines:
• Oct. 15: Citizens may begin scheduling informal hearings with an assessor.
• Oct. 31 – Nov. 19: Scheduled informal hearings will be held.
• Nov. 9: All appeals must be postmarked by this date. All online appeals must be completed on this date by 5 p.m.
Residential real estate values will average between three and 11 percent, although individual assessment changes may be higher or lower.
Multifamily family housing values increased on average between four and 21 percent.
According to a presentation at last month’s meeting by county assessor Tom Bland and private appraiser Gary Eanes, the average for Christiansburg residents will be three to six percent; Blacksburg five to 11 percent and three to five percent in the county.
Commercial values increased on average between four and nine percent, based on the type of business or industry.
Median home values in Christiansburg are $178,100 and $276,500 in Blacksburg. The county has $7.9 billion dollars in taxable property.
Drafts of the reassessment books can be viewed starting Monday in the three County libraries (Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Meadowbrook); the Clerk of Circuit Court’s office; and the lobby area in front of the Commissioner of Revenue’s Office in the Montgomery County Government Center.
The Reassessment Office may be contacted by phone at 540-394-3126, Monday – Friday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Again, scheduled informal hearings will take place Oct. 31-Nov. 19. The office is located at 16 N. Franklin St. in downtown Christiansburg.
Parking is available in the rear of the building.
— Sam Wall
