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Please ignore the strings attached to the puppet! - Do you really believe this explanation?
By robertearl | April 10, 2008
The Reston Connection ran an article and correction titled “Relying on Real Esate”. In the original article, Tim Shirocky, assistant director of the county’s Residential Property, Real Estate Division explained how much of the counties budget was dependent upon the real estate assesments. Fair Enough, but it is the next section that really got my attention.
Tim Shirocky said a state board governs and audits the assessment process. “No one at the county has anything to do with it,” when discussing the home assessment process. Fairfax County requested the following correction:
At the meeting, Supervisor Catherine Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill) asked Shirocky to explain the relationship between the Board of Supervisors and the Department of Tax Administration in determining assessments. He explained the Board of Supervisors had no authority nor gave the Department of Tax Administration any direction as to what the real estate tax base should be. He said that the assessment process is governed by state code, and the Virginia Department of Taxation reviews the quality and accuracy of the assessment each year.
While the correction was good, to show that the county really does have some control over the process and not someone in Richmond, the true question as I see it is the following:
If A+B=C and C in this caclutation equals the total amount of money that the county needs to operate, (Not just Fairfax County, but any county) Do A (the properties Assessed Value) and B (the tax rate) really mean anything, or are they just numbers that are inserted into the formula to get the county the amount of money that they desire?
I am asking this because the initial returns on the 2008 assesments, and other years for that matter, are showing that the assessed values are not “dropping” as much as the prevailing market - sales values of homes for sale have. On top of that the tax rate jumps. Making it more expensive to own a home, putting a greater and greater squeeze on working families and affordable housing in Northern Virginia.
Topics: Fairfax VA Real Estate, Northern Virginia Real Estate, Reston VA Real Estate |