Median Suffolk home assessments to drop 1 percent

SUFFOLK

Assessments on homes will fall by about 1 percent overall next tax year, although some owners will still see theirs rise.

The median residential assessment in Suffolk is projected to fall to $224,000, down from $228,000 last year, said Assessor Sid Daughtrey. He outlined his findings Wednesday to the City Council.

Suffolk's drop in residential assessments is smaller than the 4 percent decrease expected in Virginia Beach and the 2.7 percent decrease expected in Chesapeake. Portsmouth projects about a 0.5 percent drop. Norfolk hasn't released its annual report yet.

The taxable value of all real estate in Suffolk, including commercial property, will fall to $8.91 billion, down from about $8.96 billion, Daughtrey said. The city has not yet calculated t he impact of that on the budget.

A downward trend in the number of real estate transactions continued in 2008. That number fell to 2,054, down from 2,657 in 2007 and a high of 4,060 in 2005.

A home that mirrored the change in the median assessment - valued at $224,000 this year and $228,000 last year - would see its tax bill drop by about $36 if the City Council keeps the real-estate tax rate at 91 cents per $100 of assessed value.

The median is the point at which half the assessments are higher and half are lower.

Daughtrey's report included a spreadsheet that broke down the median change in assessments by subdivision. Vice Mayor Curtis Milteer Sr. quickly questioned why some neighborhoods showed increases.

"I was hoping I saw it wrong," Milteer said.

Councilman Charles Brown joined in, noting that many of the biggest increases were in Suffolk's poorer areas. Of 174 neighborhoods listed, 42 showed an increase. In many cases, the change was less than 1 percent.

Daughtrey said some poorer neighborhoods may have shown bigger jumps because of renovations to homes and redevelopment efforts. A parcel-by-parcel breakdown should show that the assessments on a majority of homes in some of those areas did not rise much, he said.

One source of confusion was a projected 45 percent increase in the median assessment for a group of homes in Northern Suffolk - to $471,500 from $324,800. Daughtrey said he would review that data to make sure the calculation was accurate.

The assessor's office has new software this year that will help it keep better track of phone calls, inquiries and complaints, Daughtrey said. Last year the city received more than 500 appeals in a turbulent assessment season that involved the City Council's firing of Daughtrey's predecessor.

People should start receiving assessment notices in the mail the first week of April.

Dave Forster, (757) 222-5563, dave.forster@pilotonline.com