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Despite a proposed 12-cent reduction in Isle of Wight County’s real estate tax rate, homeowners may still see their bills go up come July 1 when new assessed property valuations take effect.

According to a county news release, reassessment notices were mailed May 5 following Wampler-Eanes Appraisal Group’s completion of the reassessment process.

State law requires counties reassess real estate values every four years. Prior to the 2023 reassessment, the county last did so in 2019.

According to the news release, the county’s overall tax base increased by 28% on average.

At the Isle of Wight supervisors’ May 4 meeting, county officials stated single-family residential home values had gone up roughly 34%. Multi-family housing went up 26%. Commercial and industrial properties went up `12% and agricultural land went up 11%.

Last year, a house valued at $225,000 would have been assessed just over $1,900 in real estate taxes under the county’s current rate of 85 cents per $100.

To keep that same home, now valued at $288,000, paying a roughly equivalent $1,900 in taxes come July 1, the tax rate would need to be lowered to 68 cents.

Isle of Wight’s draft 2023-24 budget initially proposed a 10-cent, or 12%, reduction to 75 cents per $100, but is now proposing a 14% reduction to 73 cents, according to a public notice to be published in The Smithfield Times’ May 10 edition.

The roughly 7% difference between the 68-cent break-even rate and the proposed 73-cent rate is what’s being termed the county’s “effective tax rate increase.”

Isle of Wight County, which in April held its required public hearing on the proposed 2023-24 budget, will hold another hearing on June 1 on the “effective” real estate rate. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the boardroom of the county courthouse and will be livestreamed to the county’s website at https://www.co.isle-of-wight.va.us/government/county_board_of_supervisors/meeting_live_stream.php.

According to the county news release, Wampler-Eanes completed its field appraisals in early April. The new values on the coming reassessment notices are intended to reflect each property’s “fair market value.”

Homeowners have until May 26 to appeal their reassessments administratively by email to IsleofWightreassessment2023@gmail.com or by filling out an appeal form and mailing it to Isle of Wight County Reassessment Office, P.O. Box 685, Daleville, VA 24083. They also have the option of appealing to the Isle of Wight Board of Equalization between July 1 of this year and June 30, 2024, or filing an appeal in Isle of Wight County Circuit Court.