Real estate assessments grow by 4.5 percent

The average value of residential land with a home in Henrico County rose just more than 4 percent last year – from $255,000 to $265,600 – according to data from Henrico's Division of Finance, which completed its annual property reassessments last month.

Henrico's tax rate is 87 cents per $100 of assessed value, meaning that the average real estate tax bill for Henrico homeowners will increase by about $92.

Countywide, residential property values rose 3.5 percent, while commercial properties jumped 6.6 percent, for a combined overall assessment jump of 4.5 percent. (Last year, the combined increase was 4.7 percent.)

Those increases – coupled with $617 million worth of new construction – pushed Henrico's total real estate tax base to just more than $40 billion in value, up from $37.9 billion last year.

Overall, nearly four of every five residential properties witnessed an increase in assessed value, Henrico Finance Director Ned Smither told the Citizen. Eighteen percent of residential properties experienced no change in value from last year, while 3 percent declined in value, he said.

The highest increase in residential assessments was about 14 percent, according to Henrico Real Estate Assessment Division Director Thomas Little.

On the commercial side, heavy interest in apartment complexes as corporate investments drove the higher-than-usual increase in assessments, Smither said.

"Commercial investors are targeting apartments now," he said, referencing the sales of several Henrico apartment complexes in 2018.

The 6.6-percent jump in commercial assessments was an increase from a 4.3-percent jump last year.

Reassessments mailed this week
County officials mailed reassessment notices to homeowners Feb. 4, Smither said. Property owners who have concerns or complaints about their assessments may contact the Real Estate Assessment Division at (804) 501-4300 or e-mail AssessmentAppeal@henrico.us until April 1 to contest them. Assessors will review those inquiries and may offer a new assessed value and/or visit the properties in question to evaluate them in person, Little said.

If the county and property owner cannot reach agreement, then the case will be heard by Henrico's five-member Board of Real Estate Review and Equalization (a body appointed by the Board of Supervisors) beginning in April.

Last year, that board heard 298 cases, Smither said. In years past, it's considered as many as 1,000.

Henrico's 22 assessors are already preparing to begin assessment work for next year, Smither said. They are tasked with determining fair market value for each of Henrico's 117,713 parcels of land annually.

"We may shoot to be a couple percent less," Little said. "We try not to be over."

Assessors rely heavily upon the sale prices of other properties in the same neighborhood or region to help determine fair property values, he said.

Because the work essentially takes place year-round, properties whose values are assessed early in the calendar year may end up being slightly lower than market value by the time assessment notices go out the following February, he said.

Assessors attempt to look at about one-third of all county properties each year, Little said.

Little's department typically doesn't receive too many calls from angry homeowners, though.

"It's not like it was 20 or 30 years ago when I started," he said. "For the most part, people want their assessments to be at market value. That's their investment."

Henrico offers its Real Estate Advantage Program (or "REAP") as a way to relieve the tax burden for property owners who either are disabled or 65 years old or older and who meet other eligibility criteria.

Qualified property owners whose income is less than $75,000 annually and whose net worth is less than $400,000 may qualify to have their real estate tax eliminated or reduced, up to a maximum exemption of $3,000.

To apply for the program, homeowners should call (804) 501-4263.