Understanding your assessment and your tax bill – real estate
Bradley Powers
The vision for my office is reflected in my guiding statement: “Service to Community by Working Together.” This principle applies to all aspects of my office, but it is especially important when discussing property assessments.
How Real Estate Assessments Are Determined
The Code of Virginia requires localities to conduct general reassessments and mandates that all real estate be assessed at 100% of fair market value. Simply stated, if your home is sold in the current Smyth County market for $200,000, then by law the assessment should reflect $200,000.
In Smyth County, general reassessments are performed through a professional assessment firm that must be licensed by the state. The assessments are based strictly on verified sales and market data from within Smyth County. Even if the contracted assessment firm is not originally from our area, they are legally bound to use only confirmed local sales, property characteristics specific to each parcel, and county market trends.
The Board of Supervisors contracts with the assessing firm and decides when the next General Reassessment will be conducted. State code mandates assessments to be performed no longer than six years apart. Currently, the Board has been using a four-year model similar to other localities. If this timeline is kept by the Board of Supervisors, the next reassessment would be for the 2028 tax year.
What does this mean?
- No values or sales from outside the county.
- No regional or state averages.
- Only Smyth County market activity determines Smyth County assessments.
What If I Disagree with the Assessed Value?
If you disagree with your reassessment during a general reassessment year, there are multiple appeal options available.
First, you may appeal to the Board of Assessors, which consists of the professionals who performed the reassessment work. After that appeal period concludes, you may appeal to the Board of Equalization, a group of Smyth County citizens appointed to hear and review assessment appeals.
If you remain dissatisfied, you may file an appeal in Circuit Court. You may also appeal to Circuit Court at any time during the General Reassessment. However, once you appeal at Circuit Court, you cannot return to a lower level of appeal.
If it is not a reassessment year, the Commissioner’s Office has limited authority to make changes outside of correcting clerical errors or applying adjustments permitted by law. In many situations, appeals must generally be filed through Circuit Court.
General Reassessment does not consider the inside of the property, so issues not visible will not be known by the assessing firm. In all assessment appeals, per the code of Virginia, the burden to prove the assessment has errors is on the citizen. This means the more information you have (photos of inside the property, damage, comparable sales, etc.) the better your chance for appeal is. It is also important to note that when opening an appeal, the result could be a lowering of the assessment, or if the condition is better than the assessors initially believed, an increase in assessment.
Do Reassessments Automatically Mean More County Revenue?
Under Virginia Code § 58.1-3321, when a general reassessment would result in an overall increase of more than 1% in total real estate levies compared to the previous year, the governing body must lower the tax rate to produce no more than 101% of the prior year’s total levy. This calculated rate is commonly referred to as the “equalized rate.”
The statute prescribes the method used to calculate that lowered (equalized) rate. This helps prevent errors, or misconceptions that other factors should be applied to that lowered rate, like a “collection percentage”.
The Board of Supervisors may adopt a rate that is higher than the lower or equalized rate, provided they follow specific public notice and hearing requirements set forth in the Code.
A Practical Example from 2024
In 2023, the real estate tax rate in Smyth County was $0.74 per $100 of assessed value.
Following the 2024 General Reassessment:
- The calculated equalized rate was approximately $0.537 per $100.
- The adopted rate by the Board of Supervisors was $0.59 per $100.
Tax Bill Calculation: Assessment * Rate = Tax Bill/Levy
What does this look like?
If your home was assessed at $100,000 in 2023, your tax bill would have been:
$100,000 × ($0.74/$100) = $740.
If your assessment increased by the overall (rough) average of 40% the value would have risen to $140,000 in 2024:
At the equalized rate of $0.537:
$140,000 × ($0.537/$100) = $751.80
(an increase of $11.80 from 2023).
At the adopted rate of $0.59:
$140,000 × ($0.59/$100) = $826.00
(an increase of $86.00 from 2023).
As you can see from the example, the assessment is only one part of the final tax levy/bill.
In Closing
- Your real estate tax bill is calculated using the assessment (determined by the assessors) and tax rate (voted on by Board of Supervisors).
- Assessments are required by Virginia law to reflect 100% of fair market value.
- Assessments are only determined using Smyth County sales data, no outside data is used by the assessors.
- The tax rate is set by the Board of Supervisors.
- State law requires the calculation of an equalized rate following a general reassessment that would produce no more than a 1% overall increase in tax levy.
- The Board may adopt a higher tax rate than the equalized rate by following statutory procedures.
I hope this aids in understanding more about your real estate tax bill. Since taking office in 2024, I have strived to provide open, honest, and transparent information to all citizens. If my office can assist you in any way, please reach out to us.
Bradley Powers serves as the Commissioner of the Revenue of Smyth County.
