SUFFOLK
When Joe Arrowood steps onto his porch and looks right, he sees an empty, grassy field.
The city’s assessment data sees a house worth $74,500.
“They’re saying the building’s still there?” Arrowood asked Tuesday.
The vacant lot at 188 Cedar St. is one of several in and around downtown that were preliminarily assessed this year as if the houses they once supported were never torn down, according to online data.
Assessor Maria Kattmann said demolitions are usually caught and accounted for, either when her office runs permit reports or during the assessment appeals process. If the office discovers that a land owner has paid taxes on a razed structure, payments are refunded with interest, she said.
Kattmann said the appeals process allows her appraisers to catch major property changes that they might have missed because of their workload. There’s no way they can visit every property during the year, or even every five years, she said.
“We have six appraisers – that’s it,” she said. “I’ve got 430 square miles.”
This year’s assessments have drawn criticism from both the public and members of the City Council. The council will question her this afternoon for the second time about how she reached some of her figures. Council members are tentatively scheduled to discuss “assessment legal issues” in a closed meeting after that .
Overall, proposed residential assessments rose by 4.4 percent this year, but council members have gone to Kattmann with complaints from those whose assessments rose much more – some 100 percent or more. Mayor Linda Johnson said she has received far more calls this year than last.
“There’s a lot of concern out there,” Johnson said Friday.
Kattmann said the reaction this year to assessments, both in the news coverage they have received and the response they have caused, has been unfair.
“It’s reaching absolutely ridiculous proportions,” she said.
Kattmann said one property owner threatened her. She wouldn’t describe the threat or say any more about it.
Mike Duman, the Suffolk auto dealership owner, saw the assessment on a house he tore down actually rise – to $70,600 from $29,700.
Duman said he got his demolition permit about six months ago and began the work in January. Kattmann has a difficult job, he said, and he understands if his assessment notice didn’t reflect the demolition.
Still, Duman was concerned at the jump in the assessment, even if it’s not going to stand.
“How can you justify a 130 percent increase on a building that doesn’t exist?” Duman asked. “That’s a little scary.”
Kattmann looked up Duman’s property record Tuesday and said it showed an appraiser had looked at its data in March. The assessment data no longer showed a value for a building, she said.
Thirty-six addresses received demolition permits between 2006 and 2007, according to city records. At least 10 of those lots were vacant or appeared to be as of Tuesday yet were still assessed a preliminary building value this year, according to online assessment data.
Wayne Trout, a past president of the International Association of Assessing Officers, said the fact that a building has been demolished should be reflected at least by the next assessment cycle.
Trout, who retired as Norfolk’s assessor in 2006, said Kattmann’s office may be faced with such a workload that it can’t check on demolition permits quickly enough.
Trout was one of two consultants who reviewed Kattmann’s office last year. They concluded that her office is well run and produces relatively accurate appraisals. They warned, however, that the office is short-staffed and can’t inspect properties often enough – a situation, they said, that has led to errors .
Dave Forster, (757) 222-5563, dave.forster@pilotonline.com
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I keep my axe sharp
No axe to grind here. Why would I keep idle and not alert the assessor's office that I razed the house. Couldn't that mean a lesser tax bill? Questioning people's integrity, calling them names and offering no solutions only dilutes your position.
kattmann needs to be assessed and then fired.
Apparently Kattmann doesn't think she has to answer to the citizens of Suffolk or to city council. The assessments are out of control, home prices have dropped yet assessments continue going up. It's time for some heads to roll. As far as Duman's property, the other posters sound like they have an ax to grind with him or something. If the shoe were on the other foot I wonder if they would feel the same. Rather than rip people off with artificially high assessments, wouldn't it be wise to wait until the slackers... ugh... I mean assessors get around to actually doing an assessment to raise the assessments?
Transparent Assessment Process & Appeals
From looking at the City of Suffolk City Assessor’s webpage, it looks like county homeowners are having similar problems as homeowners in Portsmouth City. I can say personally that Portsmouth has a horrendous home assessment and appeals process. Both city webpages claim they have a transparent process. However, when I decided to follow the Portsmouth appeals process, I found out that the assessment & appeals process is setup to overwhelm any homeowner to the point that they give up on their appeal.
Local homeowners have to deal with the following tasks to challenge their appeal: (a) lengthy application forms that ask specific data questions only a professional appraiser, not homeowner, could answer; (b) a useless “informal” meeting between homeowner and city assessor official - when I asked what formula is used to compare fair market home prices & determine home assessments the response I receive was “it’s a very complicated process”; and (c) a so called un-biased Board of Equalization (BOE) committee that suppose to consist of local property owners but no information is provided on ‘whom’ you will be speaking to. And if you feel unhappy with the BOE results, y
THIS HAS GOT TO BE A TYPO
They hired the old assessor to evaluate the department he just retired from? That sounds like something the Norfolk City Council would do.
Time to do an assessment on kattmann?
To quote the article "This year’s assessments have drawn criticism from both the public and members of the City Council". That alone should be justification, her EMPLOYERS are not satisfied with her work. But then to quote Kattmann,"the reaction this year to assessments, both in the news coverage they have received and the response they have caused, has been unfair.It’s reaching absolutely ridiculous proportions”. What's "absolutely rediculous" is that her department has increased property assessments on homes that were sold for less than the privious years property assessments. The house next to me is a perfect example of that, it sold for about nine thousand less than the property assessment, yet this year the assessment went up twelve thousand dollars. Kattmann seems to be living in some alternate universe, maybe it's time to give her the oppertunity to pursue other jobs. Will the citizens of Suffolk remember this and the many other issues at election time? Probably not, we'll vote the same clowns back in and the same idiots in the appointed seats will still be there.
saw the assessment actually rise – to $70,600 from $29,700.
I'm sure Mike Duman bought this as an investment at a much lesser value of $29,700. In this market anyone would should be jumping up and down with joy on a return of 130% on DIRT! The house is a "Moot" point! You people want a better job done? Increase her budget so she can hire some new staff!
Fitting
"Kattmann said the reaction this year to assessments, both in the news coverage they have received and the response they have caused, has been unfair." “It’s reaching absolutely ridiculous proportions,” she said.
I find it ironic to hear a Tidewater area assessor crying the quote above. If you didn't know it was an assessor you could have sworn it was any resident of the Tidewater responding to the outrageous and illegal assessments. She is right...it has reached "absolutely ridiculous proportions" when unrealistic assessments continue to be used to increase taxes. Yeah Kattmann, feel a little bit of the outrage the citizens are feeling. It's good for you. Everyone in the Tidewater should protest an unfair assessment until they swamp the system and get it corrected. I fought mine 3 years in a row and was successful each year. They couldn't even produce the working papers on my property. It's a farce.
It May Be Possible
It may be possible for a "cleared" lot to be worth more than the lot was with a building on it. The building could have "problems" that render it "impractical" or even "impossible" for use, & the expense of demolition & removal, combined with other "factors" could far exceed the value of the building itself.
You would think
As a taxpayer and if I were to raze a building, the first place I would notify is the assessor's office. Do not sit back assuming city staff is going to catch every permit. As the article stated, the office is short-staffed. Are there mistakes made? Absolutely. In regards to huge jumps in assessments; it is incumbent on the property owner to take a few minutes and speak with the appropriate city appraiser. Find out what happen whether it was human error, computer error, etc. No system is perfect.
Obviously there are some problems
with the city assesor getting her job done. The city can try to justify the fact that some of the demolitions slip by and the citizen may get a bill for a structure that does not exist, but like Mike Duman said....they went up 130% in a years time and he tore the house down 6 months ago? Its all a sham! The city has to generate so much revenue so they automatically put the screws to so many folks every year. Look out! If all we do is complain about it, next year may be the year they put the screws to you!!!
It's time for kattmann to be fired
To quote the article "This year’s assessments have drawn criticism from both the public and members of the City Council". That alone should be justification, her EMPLOYERS are not satisfied with her work. But then to quote Kattmann,"the reaction this year to assessments, both in the news coverage they have received and the response they have caused, has been unfair.It’s reaching absolutely ridiculous proportions”. What's "absolutely rediculous" is that her department has increased property assessments on homes that were sold for less than the privious years property assessments. The house next to me is a perfect example of that, it sold for about nine thousand less than the property assessment, yet this year the assessment went up twelve thousand dollars. Kattmann seems to be living in some alternate universe, maybe it's time to give her the oppertunity to pursue other jobs. Will the citizens of Suffolk remember this and the many other issues at election time? Probably not, we'll vote the same clowns back in and the same idiots in the appointed seats will still be there.