It’s been a busy couple of days in Augusta County.
First, the assessor in the eye of the storm tried to defend its actions by pulling sales data for the month of January, and finding the overall value of the sales was higher than assessed value (SWAC Girl). Trouble is, with 33 properties at issue (Waynesboro News-Virginian), one or two could have skewed the entire field – and Blue Ridge did not provide the details on each sale (as far as I know).
Meanwhile, more property owners are getting steamed (SWAC Girl again), to the point that Frank Chester appears to have followed through on his threat to sue.
I repeat what I have said earlier: Augusta is in this mess because they are on a four-year cycle, which all but ensured angry homeowners even if all of the properties had been assessed after the housing bubble burst (and clearly, a large chunk were assessed while the bubble was still intact).
The best solution for the county is to admit to the mistake, start the assessment from scratch, take its lumps (which in this case would be only $40,000 in lost alcohol revenue from Richmond), and move to an annual or a biennial assessment cycle from here on out. Otherwise, several property owners in Augusta will be stuck with an already outdated assessment until early 2013. It would be comical if it wasn’t so tragic.
It’s going to be a tax revolt TEA PARTY in Augusta County on March 11, 2009, when county residents show up for the Board of Supervisors meeting at 7 pm at the Government Center in Verona. It’s time to stand up and be heard by our representatives.
Thanks for your continued interest in helping to show the importance of this tax issue to the rest of Virginia because what happens in Augusta doesn’t stay in Augusta. We’re being watched.
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