The Middlesex County Board of Supervisors (MCBS) voted unanimously in August to authorize County Administrator Matt Walker to sign a contract hiring Cowan Services LLC to begin immediately to start a countywide reassessment.
The board voiced concern that the assessment could tax some people out of their homes. Walker informed the board that there is nothing in the state code to protect elderly or fixed income (retired) citizens from being taxed out of their homes. The assessment is anticipated to bring a 30% to 40% increase in real estate values since the last reassessment four years ago.
The issue is that “serious money” real estate buyers are moving into the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck purchasing property way over current market values, said Walker. “This is pushing market values up countywide,” he said.
He compared Middlesex to Fairfax County in that he said Fairfax has longtime elderly homeowners being assessed out of their homes as a “younger more affluent generation” moves in.
“There is nothing in the state code to prevent elderly from being forced to sell their homes, but believe me if Fairfax is having a problem with it the state legislature is at least looking at it,” said Walker. “The state needs a provision for us to use to protect the more fragile citizens of the commonwealth.”
Hartfield Supervisor Bill Harris voiced considerable concern. “I do not want grandma being taxed out of her home,” he said. “What happens when buyers come in on both sides of her and pay a million dollars apiece for the two adjoining properties?”
Jason Cowan of Cowan Services LLC said that his firm usually throws out outrageous sales and the law allows that, but if the sales are the “norm” there are just a few things the county can do to help. The law requires the land be assessed at 100% market value. There are no “homestead laws” in Virginia protecting longtime property owners from losing land to taxes, he said.
Walker said that the county does have a tax relief for the elderly program and perhaps supervisors and Commissioner of Revenue Mae Diggs need to take a harder look at that program. He also noted supervisors can lower the tax rate, which will bring taxes down to some extent.
Bill Harris warned that high assessments might not just impact the poor, it could impact middle class fixed income property owners who do not quality for tax relief. “We have been seeing some crazy sales in the last year or two,” he said. “I do not want to see longtime residents of Middlesex County taxed out of their homes because of high assessments.”
Walker said that Lancaster County is facing the same dilemma and it has recently completed a reassessment. “Some serious money has been moving into Lancaster,” he said. “The state of Virginia needs to address this issue.”
