By Heather Michon
Correspondent
Days before Fluvanna County sends out notices alerting property owners of real estate reassessments for 2023, the Board of Supervisors received a detailed overview of property values at its meeting on Wednesday night (Nov. 2).
“In spite of the interest rates creeping up, the demand here in Fluvanna County is still good from what I can see,” said Randy Willis, an assessor for Pearson’s Appraisal Service.
The median sales price in Fluvanna is $360,000, an 18 percent increase over the same period in 2021. The average time a home sits on the market is 19 days.
Overall, Willis said the change in the market value of homes is up about 13 percent over 2021, but these figures vary widely by location. Dwellings in the southern tier of the county have increased around 11.6 percent, while homes at Lake Monticello are up an average of 18.5 percent in the interior sections, 19.8 percent on the golf course, and 15.3 on the waterfront.
Willis stressed that these were just broad overviews of the local real estate market, and reassessment appraisals are based on a wide variety of factors.
Commissioner of the Revenue Mel Sheridan said letters about the reassessment would be going out in mid-November and would include instructions on how residents can contact Pearson’s to ask questions about their assessment.
“That’s important because I think we will have some people asking when we’ve been talking 17, 18 percent increases,” Sheridan said.
His initial calculations found that the average 13 percent increase in assessments would total about $1.7 million in additional revenue to the county when the bills come due in early June of 2023.
County Supervisor Eric Dahl said there would likely have to be special public hearings and board action to equalize the tax rate from its current rate of $0.87 per $100 of assessed value. His initial estimate was around a five-cent drop in that rate would reduce the burden on taxpayers while still generating revenue for the county.
Under state law, counties and localities must conduct reassessments of real estate every two to six years. Fluvanna is on a two-year assessment cycle, with the next assessment scheduled for 2025.
In line with the upcoming reassessment, supervisors also approved recommendations for members to the Board of Equalization (BOE). The BOE is tasked with hearing formal complaints and disputes by citizens over their real estate tax assessments and has the power to increase or decrease the final bill.
Other matters
Supervisors had several presentations on Wednesday night, including an update on the Central Virginia Small Business Development Center, a review of housing statistics by Community Investment Collaborative (CIC), and a brief look at funding options for an extension to the Zion Crossroads waterline.
Another item on the agenda was the approval of a public hearing to discuss changes to repeal and replace Chapter 8 of the county code, which regulates fire protection and public safety.
An updated code would allow for the creation of a Department of Emergency Services to coordinate activities across the county’s fire and rescue departments.
The hearing will be held on Dec. 7 at 7 p.m.
