Real Estate Taxes

Down 12% from 2007. I was expecting it to be a bit lower, really. Time to check the comps...

 

we got ours today and I was SHOCKED...ours went down 76K = 17% - but it makes sense based on the comps of homes sold on our street. Still pretty shocking when you compair what we paid for our home in '04 vs. the current price points!

Not sure if i should be happy or buckle down for the long haul so the market can improve before we depart for C'ville.

 

We got ours today - down $70k - glad we don't plan on selling any time soon.

1999 - $254,800 - $1.11 / $100 of assessed value
2002 - $359,100 - $1.05
2005 - $480,000 - $1.04
2006 - $575,900 - $0.89
2007 - $575,900 - $0.91
2008 - $505,400 - TBD

 

Yeah, ours was down $84K. Guess we are in for the long haul too.

 

ours was also down very significantly from last year, not realistically either. and much lower than any valuation site out there... zillow, cyberhomes, etc.

anyway, my question is this, does the large value drop equal a drop in our property taxes this year, if so, how much does it really affect it.

and what exactly is the appeals process to go through? we're looking to refi soon and this value is not realistic at all. do we need to write to them, pay for an appraisal...?

 

Good luck on a property tax bill reduction. The drop will simply mean the BOS will raise the $$ to get the bills back to where they are or higher I'm sure.

There is a form on the Loudoun County website that you fill out to appeal the appraisal. Are you saying though that you want to appeal to have your appraisal raised??????? If so, that would be the first time I ever heard that - LOL.

Seriously if youre refinacing your going to have to get an appraisal done anyways so see what they come up with. A few years back you could always count on the tax appraisal being below market value.

 

Well on the positive side, I'm glad you're going to be here for a while...My is down 20% since I bought it, not counting the improvements I put in...so I'm here for quite awhile too!

 

How about the breakdown between land and improvements? Our land valuation went up about 32% over last year while improvements went down 6%. Overall assessment is down 6%, but we appealed last year and they dropped it about 10%, so I can understand that. I can't understand how this year my land is worth so much more than last!

 

DanAngie, I was just going to say that too! The value of our land went up, the value of the structure went down. Overall we're down around 10% or so.

 

Assessments down - tax rate must go up......
http://loudounextra.washingtonpost....nistrator-offers-12-billion-operating-budget/

Here's my favorite quote: "The party's over," said Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott K. York (I-At Large), noting that years of unbridled growth, combined with a slow economy, have contributed to the county's fiscal challenges.

Duh!! - hasnt he been around for the last several years where they have spent..spent...spent on their "party"???? Maybe if they would have controlled their spending over the last several years the wouldn't have to smack us with a huge tax increase to keep what everyone has become accustomed to.

Talk about kicking you when youre down... Housing values down in the mid-high teens, but lets propose a budget that would still raise your taxes by ~14%.

Government at its best

 

What is he talking about? With a proposed 26% increase in the tax rate, looks like Loudoun's party is just getting started.

 

i read this article this morning....i figured it out--even with a > $100K drop in my assesment, my taxes for the year will still go up....this is nuts. and i like the mention about how last year's increase of 5 cents or whatever was an ELECTION year...glad they put that in there. does that mean they don't care if they stick us this year?

 

Story of life here in Loudoun - Property Values Fall by record numbers offset by a 19% increase in the tax rate - way to go BOS....... My tax bill is now higher this year than it was last year and my property decrease by 17.5%.


LoudounExtra.com
Board Gives Nod to $1.14 Tax Rate
By Melissa Arseniuk

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Property taxes in Loudoun County appear to be on the rise, as the Board of Supervisors decided last night to assume a tax rate of $1.14 -- up from the current rate of 96 cents.

The rate is not yet set in stone. It means the county will re-work its proposed budget under the assumed rate to see what expenditures it will be able to finance. A vote to formally adopt a tax rate for fiscal year 2009 is expected April 1.

Jim Burton (Blue Ridge District) moved to adopt the $1.14 tax rate early in last night's work session. The motion was seconded by Sally R. Kurtz (Catoctin District) and passed 5-to-4, with Chairman Scott K. York (At Large), Vice Chairwoman Susan Klimek Buckley (Sugarland Run District) and supervisors Eugene Delgaudio (Sterling District) and Lori Waters (Broad Run District) opposed.

A motion introduced by Buckley and seconded by Kurtz (Catoctin District) to adopt a rate of $1.152 was defeated.

Delgaudio intended to propose a rate of $1.07, but the motion didn't make it to a vote.

Throughout the budget process, York has advocated for a rate no more than $1.10.

"I know the pain it will cause if we go down to $1.10 both to the schools and us," he said, "but … I don't work for the schools (and) I don't work for the county side of government. I work for the citizens."

The Board of Supervisors meets Wednesday evening to discuss its fiscal year 2009 tax rate.

Burton said he shared York's sentiment. "We are increasing their tax burden at a time when many of them are staring foreclosure in the face," he said.

A tax rate of $1.14 would provide funds for about 94 percent of the Loudoun County Public School Board's requested operating budget.

Buckley said the proposed budget shortage puts the School Board into unchartered waters, adding that it has received at least 98.6 percent of its funding request since 1999.

County Administrator Kirby M. Bowers released a proposed $1.2 billion county budget proposal Feb. 11 that would have increased the average residential tax bill by about $640. That plan included less than what school officials had been asking for.

The School Board requested an increase of $103.8 million, or 15 percent, over its fiscal year 2008 operating budget. It later trimmed $37.3 million from its request, but supervisors were, for the most part, not satisfied.

The current property tax rate is 96 cents, but because the average residential assessment has fallen steeply in the past year, the county would have to raise the rate to $1.07 just to keep collecting the same amount of tax revenue.

Over the past year, the average assessed value of a single-family home in Loudoun fell from $487,187 to $447,605, according to county figures.

During a budget work session meeting last week, School Board member J. Warren Geurin (Sterling District) warned supervisors that "the magnitude of the reduction that you're talking about" would cause significant problems. "There will be unintended consequences," he said.

School Board chairman Robert F. DuPree has also said there is no way "to avoid a combination of increasing class sizes, eliminating cost of living adjustments for our employees, and programmatic reductions of what we currently offer" if the school budget is drastically less than what they requested.

Still, supervisors made it clear last night that the School Board should expect to receive far less than what it had been hoping for.

Burton said a tax rate of $1.14 would give schools "$55,286,714 more than they received last year."

While the rate doesn't include a pay increase for teachers, experienced educators will still climb one step higher on the seniority-driven pay scale next year. Under this system, for example, teachers with five years of experience will see their salary increase $1,678 next year, from $46,617 (if they have a bachelor's degree) or $51,998 (if they hold a master's) to $48,295 or $53,676, respectively, during their sixth year of teaching.

Supervisor Kelly Burk (Leesburg District) blamed her predecessors for forcing the current board to simultaneously limit school funding and raise taxes.

"The previous leadership did not plan for the economic downturn that we all saw coming and they used one-time funding sources to prop up their budgets, and continue to allow and encourage uncontrolled growth that has left us in the situation we find ourselves in today," she said.

Meanwhile, Waters was adamant that existing proffers could be used to support the budget and avoid such a dramatic tax increase.

"The county is sitting on millions of dollars of cash that should be used," she said. "I just cannot put in a tax rate of $1.14 when I know … that there is an additional $12 million out there that could be used to pay for debt service, to pay for not incurring debt on certain facilities, for doing some things in cash and not incurring debt at all."

The Board of Supervisors is expected to formally adopt a tax rate April 1 at its 6:30 p.m. meeting at the Government Center.

Copyright 2008 The Washington Post Company

 

Don't fell bad people, my property assessment went down a few thousand bucks so my taxes will increase tremendously.
Lee j

 

If you factor in the last 2 years, my assessment went down $96k but my tax burden increased by $500. While it's not the end of the world by any means, it still sucks to see it.

 

This has not been good news for our new BOS as people are upset all over the blogs. Further they allow a 20 million dollar spanish - english program to stay when there are other ways to accomplish this far cheaper.

 

Don't worry, Geauxtigers, I am sure that your added tax burden of $500 will be put to use building yet another county building or school! Why is that the county's reaction to declining revenues is to jack up taxes? Why don't they cut back spending?!?

 

beahmer, do you (or anyone else) know how Stevens Miller voted?