9th District Councilman Doug Conner has passed along the following letter from the city assessor’s office to better inform the public about the upcoming assessment process.

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Members of City Council:

The City Assessor Staff Appraisers are beginning to conduct field work for the 2010 Reassessment.  It will take several months of analysis to determine where the market is headed for the next year; and I will keep you updated of significant trends as the year progresses.  If you have any specific areas of concern within your district, please forward these to me.  It will help as we establish priorities for the coming year.

Appeals and land book certification have dominated our time since January; this is an overview of the January-March activities:

Office Reviews

This is the first step of the assessment appeal process; we completed 1,577 reviews.  In each case, contact is made with the property owner and a discussion was held to identify the specific issue(s).  Based on information supplied by the owner, the assigned appraiser conducted the appropriate analysis, corrected or adjusted the assessment, if necessary, and sent a follow-up letter to the owner describing any action taken.  Of the 1,577 properties appealed, 741 changes were made and 846 assessments were upheld.

Board of Review

This is the second step of the assessment appeal process. Property owners have until June 30^th to file an application to this circuit court appointed board.  Hearings are generally held twice a week during the July-December period, during which a property owner must present substantiated evidence that their assessment is inequitable or over-valued on January 1.  As of April 28^th, there are 42 cases filed before the Board of Review.

Circuit Court Cases

Appeals before the bench are the third step of the assessment appeal process.  There are currently nine (9) cases filed involving approximately 25 tax parcels of low-income multi-family units.  One (1) filed case involves the Rehab Credit process for the Troutman Sanders Office Building at Haxall Point.  One (1) filed case involves the assessment of Retreat Hospital.

Land Book Certification

State law requires that I certify all land book values.  I certified the land book on April 14^th and sent all information to the Department of Finance to begin the creation of tax bills.  This process must be coordinated with due dates related to the annual budget, assessment appeal process and the rehab assessment credits.  Any adjustments to the land book after April 14^th requires a specific procedure (called roll correction) be followed for auditing purposes.

James D. Hester, CAE, RES, MAI, SRA
Richmond  City Assessor
Rm 802-City Hall 900 E. Broad St .
Richmond, VA 23219
Ph: (804) 646-5304