The Virginian-Pilot
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PORTSMOUTH
Residential real estate assessments will drop by 4.38 percent overall in the next fiscal year, City Assessor Maria Kattmann said Wednesday.
A breakdown by neighborhood has not been made public yet. Kattmann will report her findings in more detail at a work session Monday with the City Council.
Portsmouth's overall drop in residential assessments is slightly smaller than the 4.9 percent decrease reported in Norfolk. Suffolk is reporting a decline of about 4 percent, Virginia Beach a decrease of 5.75 percent and Chesapeake a slide of 6.35 percent.
Vice Mayor Bill Moody Jr. said the drop in Portsmouth was about what he expected.
"It's kind of indicative of the real estate market, with declining home values," he said. "And it will take a little bit of the financial burden off of our citizens."
Moody, who is running for re-election in May, said he would not support an increase in the real estate tax rate to make up for the drop in values. "I think it's called living within your means, and I think we'll certainly have to adjust accordingly," he said.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Psimas agreed, but she added that the great unknown remains the size of state funding cuts that the city will have to absorb.
Most Portsmouth residents saw little or no change last year in their home values, but their tax bill still went up because the council raised the tax rate by 3 cents per $100 of assessed value.
Those relatively flat assessments last year reversed a five-year trend of large increases.
In assessments for the next fiscal year, the value of commercial properties will fall by half a percent, Kattmann said. The value of all assessed property in the city will fall to about $7.2 billion, from $7.4 billion, she said.
Pilot writer Linda McNatt contributed to this report.
Dave Forster, (757) 446-2627, dave.forster@pilotonline.com
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OUR GREAT CITY COUNCIL LEADER ALWAYS WANTS TO TAKE THE SPOTLIGHT
Some of us appreciate the decrease, thanks MOODY for leading the charge. A few Portsmouth citizens have not seen an increase in pay. Everyone can not afford to purchase a mercedes in the middle of recession....right CC WOMAN PSIMAS!!! I would assume that is why your focus is not on the residents that don't live downtown....My two cents..
No Tax money
Ms. Psimas is a successful businesswoman, and she has every right to buy whatever car she wants to. It's her own money. What do you think she should drive--a hoopdy?
I'm just surprised that our citizens have lost $200 million dollars in personal net worth, supported by valid, arms-length closed sales. We are in bad shape.
Order of Importance
I believe the most important thing the new Portsmouth Assessor should focus on is cleaning up the mess left by the former assessor and hiring a qualified appraisal staff to do it. Where he/she lives now is irrelevant and the fact that a move has not yet occurred (if that is indeed true) may be because of the current market. For most of us, to buy a house you must sell a house.
The Law
Where you live is indeed irrelevant, unless it is specifically addressed in the City Code, which it is.
City Council
already paid a professional company $250,000 four years ago to bring Portsmouth assessments in line. The company raised some by 74%, and they also lowered some.
The first cost estimate for that service was $900,000, but their preliminary evaluation showed that the office was in good enough shape to require only $250,000 to complete the evaluation and the reassessment.
The Suffolk lady did her own assessment, and it has nothing to do with the previous certified assessor, competent or not, who lived in Portsmouth like all of the previous assessors. And where did you get your assessment training?
Be Honest Portsmouth!!
Lies about property value for years, and now backing off less than other cities. You can always rig the tax rate, but then constituents will focus on waste and incompetence instead of assessments. Fooling no one except yourselves.
Other Cities
Sales in other cities did not take place in Portsmouth, and I'm glad to see Portsmouth did their own. All you have to do is ask the assessor to let you see the sales in your neighborhood she used. It's your right.
My view
I cannot understand how assessments can be so different across our city. Why is dirt in Sterling Point, Lincoln Park or Hodges Manor valued differently? I can understand waterfront (not on a tidal ditch) being more valuable than locked land. Why is a 1500 square foot home in Brighton valued so much less than Park manor? Aren't they both made of wood, brick and mortar? That said, the tax rate is this city is very heavy-handed. Portsmouth is land-locked and undercompensated for property controlled by the federal and state government. 20% of our 'residents' are on the government dole and make no viable contributions to the city. Another 40% are hard workers but make so little income that few taxes are collected. The remaining 40% manages to earn a decent income and pays dearly for that good fortune. If the CC would just tax each of us equally based on square footage of land and home we could all afford to live here and attract outsiders too. Right now I see too many 'For Sale' signs from people trying to leave!
Tax rates
Well now that the assessments went down a little, the council will probaly increase the tax rates. They just need to keep robbing the citizens. We have to pay for all their waste. Throw the ones out we can this year during the elections.
Assessments
The city assessments should be what they were in 2003. Anything else is a forest. The period from 2004-2007 was a false real estate market. The assessors cannot see that. But when you look at all the forclosures out there & the properties aer not selling, the assessors need to wake up & do their job responsibly. I know of a lot of properties that are way over assessed by $25-40,000. Wake up Portsmouth. The assessor that came here from Suffolk, got fired in Suffolk for over assessing properties. The city council & the assessors are robbing the citizens of Portsmouth. Some of the new council candidates are running to cut the tax rate. They need to run to get the assessments back to where they were before we had this false real estate market. Let's replace all 3 running for council this year & get this city back to where it should be. There are over 150 houses on the market for under $100,000 & they can't sell. Look around you.