Tax rate flat, revenue to rise

Published 1:29 pm Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Real estate property taxes are set to increase following a reassessment of properties in Lunenburg County that were previously assessed in 2017.

Members of the Board of Supervisors, during their regular Thursday meeting, are set to schedule a public hearing for March 29 at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the real estate property tax rates.

The total assessed value of real property—or fixed properties that include land and buildings— for the 2018 calendar year is $924,053,400, which comes at an increase of 6.4 percent, or $55,924,500 from the 2017 calendar year. The total assessed value for the 2017 was $868,128,900, according to a notice from the county.

The notice cited that a potential lowered tax rate of 0.36 cents, two cents lower than the 2017 original tax rate of 0.38 cents per $100 assessed value, is suggested to offset increased assessment, the notice cited.

County Administrator Tracy Gee said this means that in order for the total amount of tax collected to be the same as last year’s amount, the tax rate would have to be lower.

“If you taxed the real estate assessments for 2018 and had to bring the rate in to bring in the same amount of taxes (as in 2017), you would have to lower your rate down to 0.36 cents,” Gee said.

However, Gee said the board of supervisors is set to vote to keep the tax rate at 0.38 cents, and may collect increase in revenue as a result.

“We would like to leave it at a rate of 0.38 cents and realize the revenue,” Gee said.

Gee said individual property tax rates may increase or decrease depending on the value of the property, which was assessed by Pearson’s Appraisals in Richmond.

The Thursday board of supervisors meeting will take place at 6 p.m. at the Lunenburg Courthouse.