Lindsay Dorrier and Dennis Rooker are members of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors. This Sunday, they spoke with Rick Moore of WNRN’s Sunday Morning Wake-Up Call about property assessments in the area. With the rapid immigration to the Charlottesville/Albemarle area over the past decade, property values have soared to many times what owners originally bought the property at. They discuss laws regarding assessment appeals and the switch to annual reassessments, what local governments do with the increased revenue, and taxes on land use. Dorrier and Rooker also discuss the new budget, and how the new revenue will affect the services the county provides.
Okay, Here’s a question that should’ve been asked. but was not.
Dennis Rooker explained that the practice of readjusting the assessment only at the time of sale, as done in California, was illegal in Virginia. The state does not give localities that ability.
The question that should’ve been asked: “Since the BoS has no problem going to Creigh Deeds and asking him to propose a blanket law giving the county unprecedented ability to impose growth controls without public hearings. Why cannot the BoS do the same with regards to changing the way assessments are done locally? So that it will be similar to California’s practice.
In all it was an interesting program. But I didn’t really hear anything I didn’t already know. Blame the next higher level of government seemed to be the common theme.