House values fall across Albemarle

The average assessed value of Albemarle County homes has declined 3.96 percent in the last year — courtesy of the wounded economy — which means lower tax bills for many residents if the county doesn’t raise its tax rate.

The real-estate figures were released Thursday, and the county is mailing notices to taxpayers this week.

Assessed commercial property values declined 0.64 percent.

The figures don’t come as a shock to county officials.

“Albemarle stays fairly stable because of the university and all of the medical facilities,” said Bob Willingham, county assessor.

Total assessment values are slightly higher than the county had projected months ago. Combined, assessed residential and commercial property values declined 3.18 percent, excluding new construction, compared with county officials’ 3.75 percent projected decline.

“Commercial properties came in a little stronger than we had anticipated,” county Finance Director Richard Wiggans said. “We try to be realistic and don’t want to lowball it too much, but we want to make sure that we are being conservative in our projections.”

The county had projected that the 2009 real-estate tax rate of 74.2 cents per $100 of assessed value would have to be increased to 77.2 cents in 2010 if the average resident were to receive the same tax bill. However, based on reassessments released Thursday, the tax rate would actually have to be 76.6 cents to keep the average taxpayer’s bill the same in 2010.

Late last year, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors had directed the county executive to provide a budget request based on an “equalized tax rate” that would increase in 2010 to account for lower assessed home values — ultimately meaning that tax bills would remain virtually unchanged in 2010 compared with 2009.

However, two new Republicans were elected in November and the board gave the county executive a new direction in January: create a budget request based on the 2009 tax rate of 74.2 cents, which would mean an effective tax decrease. Republican Supervisor Duane Snow, however, said the board established that rate as a goal but a decision hasn’t been made.

This is the second consecutive year that Albemarle property assessments have dropped. In 2009, Albemarle property was assessed 2.59 percent below 2008 assessments, on average.

The new assessments will be reflected in real-estate tax bills mailed in late-April. Supervisors will determine the county’s real-estate tax rate prior to those bills being sent, and the tax rate set in April will be applied to those bills.

Though the assessment figures reflect the average decline in property values, the assessment values of individual homes vary based largely on the selling price of similar homes in the area.

Residents have a right to appeal disputed reassessments. To do so, call the county assessor’s office at 296-5856.

The headline of this article was edited for accuracy.