New Kent reassessment notices unleash public furor

Property reassessment notices mailed out last Friday in New Kent apparently have county taxpayers in an uproar. As a result, county Board of Supervisors members report their phones have been ringing off the hook since taxpayers began opening notices this past weekend.

“It’s been a tough weekend,” District 5 representative Ray Davis said during the board’s Monday night meeting.

But he added that mostly it’s toughest on the taxpayers when general reassessment time rolls around.

“It’s supposed to be fair and equitable, and we strive to make it that way,” he said, adding that taxpayers can make appointments with the company that performed the reassessment for a review of their situation.

“If you’re not satisfied with what you get from the assessors, there’s one last resort and that’s the Board of Equalization,” he said.

District 4 board member Stran Trout said most of the complaints he has fielded deal with land assessments more so than housing.

County Administrator John Budesky said his office has been taking calls from taxpayers concerned about the percentage of increase in land values.

“Most of the concerns are from people saying the economy is recessing so how can assessments rise,” he said.

The state of the economy, however, is only one of several factors considered during the reassessment process, he added.

William Coalson, who heads Tri-County Appraisals, the company hired by the county to perform the reassessment, told supervisors that land and buildings are assessed separately. Land, he said, is judged primarily on five factors:

–Whether the property has road frontage or not (landlocked property has less value);

–Topography (flat land is more valuable than steep or rolling terrain);

–Shape of the property (land uniform in shape such as a square or rectangle is worth more than a long, narrow strip or a tract with uneven boundaries);

–Size of the land (the more acres, the less the overall assessment);

–Type of land (open, wooded, swamp, or waterfront for example).

Budesky, meanwhile, said his office is referring all reassessment concerns to Coalson’s office.

Taxpayers have until March 20 to call Coalson’s office (966-8573) to make an appointment to contest reassessments. Hearings are continuing through March 28. Notices mailed to taxpayers by the company listed incorrect dates for the appointment and hearing cutoffs.

Tri-County’s office hours are 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The office is open until 7 p.m. on Wednesdays. Hearings are being held inside the county’s old courthouse building.

In other matters Monday night, supervisors approved a request to amend the Patriot’s Landing Planned Unit Development ordinance to add 13.5 acres and change the owner’s corporate name.

But board members postponed action on a section of the resolution whereby the developers proffer that cash proffers to the county be adjusted upward annually based on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers. For now, cash proffers are adjusted according to the Marshall and Swift Building Cost Index.

Supervisors deferred action on proffers after county resident Ed Hayes, speaking during a public hearing on the resolution, said the county could lose money by agreeing to the index switch.

Board members agreed with Hayes’ assessment and ordered county staff to compare the indexes. An earlier comparison was not done since the county does not subscribe to the Marshall and Swift index.

Adding the 13.5 acres to the PUD does not increase the 640 housing units already approved for the 250-acre development. The developer, Patriot’s Landing Development Company, bought the property, which is landlocked within the development, after the PUD agreement went into effect. The land is to be used to lower housing density in the single-family dwelling phase of the project.

Also Monday night, supervisors approved their own request to rezone 186 county-owned acres from agriculture to general residential. The property includes the site of Watkins and New Kent elementary schools, the existing high school, and the new high school.

Supervisors initiated the action to bring the property in line with zoning for the courthouse complex, and also to sidestep property line setback violations created at the site of the new high school’s competition baseball field off Egypt Road. Dugouts and a press box/concession stand are built too close to property lines, contrary to agriculture zoning regulations.

Hayes, meanwhile, was the only county resident who spoke during a public hearing on the rezoning. He labeled the move “a bad idea” and chastised county management for dropping the ball.

Hayes complained that the county is violating its own law, adding, “The county must abide by rules New Kent citizens have to abide by.”

Davis, meanwhile, said he has received complaints from constituents who are asking why county officials are getting away with something ordinary citizens cannot do.

District 2 Supervisor Marty Sparks agreed, saying, “Somebody messed up, bottom line.”

County planning manager Rodney Hathaway said a breakdown in the building process occurred. Work on the new high school, including the new baseball field, got ahead of schedule and the violation was not discovered until after the dugouts and other structures were in place. General residential zoning, he said, solves the setback problem and avoids violating state law prohibiting spot zoning.

Trout, meanwhile, said rezoning is the best way to solve the problem, and supervisors eventually agreed 5-0, although Davis and Sparks added “reluctantly” to their votes.

In other business, supervisors approved a six-year secondary road improvement plan that includes no new projects, but replaces Adkins Road (Route 618 from Route 60 south to the Charles City line) with a section of Dispatch Road (613).

Five projects in priority order for upgrades are sections of Stage (632), Dispatch, Homestead (620), Mt. Pleasant (628), and Henpeck (665) roads. Candidate projects to be added to the list if funding can be found are sections of South Waterside Drive (627), Old Church (606), Cosby Mill (638), Stage, Criss Cross (617), Pine Fork (610), and Holly Fork (600) roads.