The tax assessments are in for tax year 2015. What on earth has all the hype been over. I was expecting to have to take out a second mortgage just to be able to afford the increase. I had been eyeing the cat food for months now, figuring I was going to have to substitute at least a couple meals a week with the stuff because of PWC’s oppressive tax burden, imposed by all those “tax and spend” supervisors.
Such is not the case. Back to hamburger and chicken. The sky is not falling. My tax bill increase, if it stays at the advertised rate hovers in right around $300 per year. That’s about $25 a month. I think I can afford that. Oddly enough, the tax amounts have gone down. The assessment statement was much more detailed this year.
2013 $1.2562
2014 $1.2212
2015 $1.1936 (advertised)
Its pretty obvious that our tax amounts have decreased. The actual housing assessments have increased which shows growth in the county. You always want your house to be appreciating. PWC housing assessments have always been low, compared to what you can get on the real estate market so things are even better.
The bottom line is, my taxes will go up a little bit more than they did last year. My house is worth more. My taxes were fairly flat for several years after the great recession so I am really not going to complain.
However, the tea party mentality people of the county will have you believe that our current supervisors have been fleecing us for the past 8 years. That is simply a lie.
I live in an older neighborhood, Sudley, to be specific. My house is about 45 years old. Sudley has held its value fairly well and most streets still look presentable. It’s not grand living though. If you want granite countertops you have to remodel your kitchen. If you want 10 foot ceilings you are pretty much out of luck. If you want mature trees, you are in tree heaven. Some of the people squawking the most about taxes live in much fancier digs than I do. Perhaps some of them need to return to normal living if their taxes are too high.
I have lived here a long time. I expected my taxes to go up over the years. They have not disappointed me. They have. This yearly occurrence is normal. It is what happens. If your taxes are too high, you either bought too much house for your income or you really shouldn’t be living in Northern Virginia.
Over here in the CoM, the Council hasn’t set a rate yet…advertised tax rate was debated March 18th. Did get my City Assesment though, and based on “Fair Market Value”, the assessment went up around 5%.
Land Value stayed the same, but the bulding value went up $12,800. Like you, I live in an older home although mine is only 34 years old. I always struggle with that “Fair Market Value” for assesments as it never factors in standard depreciation on the building. If you or I had business property, by the IRS we would start factoring in depreciation after 30 years…of course factoring in any improvements. IRS has a standard formula to use for it.
But when it comes to homes, depreciation is never considered. Had a talk once with the City’s Commissioner of Revenue, and only answer I got is “it’s a State thing”. Seems the State pushed the Market Value and never wrote in the depreciation thing.
Bottom line is I figure my taxes will probably go up around 4% and, if using last year’s tax rate, hits me for around $15 a month. But the Council is still doing its thing and will have to wait a couple of months to see the end state.
My assessment went up about 11%. That wasn’t a surprise. I am assuming it is a community thing rather than a personal thing. I have put a bunch of money into the house in the past year and a half but I doubt if that is being reflected in property value assessment.
I think our taxes are supposed to go up on average about 4%. I haven’t done the math there. Maybe the depreciation is cancelled because we do things to our houses to upgrade them?
Today my war is with VDOT. for 2.5 weeks there is to be no parking on the street. Screw that. I have called the county, VDOT, the Gov’s office, and the Secretary of Transportation for Virginia. They are repaving a road that is in perfectly good shape. 1 pothole between here and 234. My tax dollars at work.
The notices went up yesterday.
Be ever so proud of me. I have not uttered one curse word at anyone this morning.