Board of Equalization Meeting   7/13/2021

Good morning, Mr. Cromwell.

Mr. Herndon, is he there here or not?

He is here.

All right, Mr. Ferrell, are you keeping up with this?

I am, thank you.

Do we have an approval for the prior minutes of the prior meeting?

Everyone had a chance to review them?

I'll move to approve them.

All in favor?

Aye.

Should we bring the canes on or are they just going to be listening?

No, I'll bring them on.

You wanna bring him in?

He says he wants to just stay in the background.

Mr. Ferrell, Sagar is the IT backup person to support.

He'll be here the whole time to monitor.

He will typically be here for all the Tuesday morning meetings and we'll have the other lady in the Thursday afternoon meetings.

Everybody's on?

OK. Good morning.

Mr. Cane?

Jane is my wife, and she's sitting right here.

Sorry about that.

I'm using her computer.

So if you'd like to go forward, we'd love to hear it from you.

Should we do them one at a time or should we lump it all together and mull through it?

I think you should do them the way you're most comfortable, but I understand they're two parts.

Did you get all of the documents I sent to Ms. Taylor?

I believe we did.

Okay, the first part is the land assessment.

I

Pass the baton to you all.

Do you have anything more on this parcel?

Not on the land.

Apart from the land?

Yeah, I can go ahead and finish it.

You're giving us first the land and then the structure.

Yes, that's all for the land.

You have nothing more on this parcel.

Nothing more on the land.

and I think Mr. Van Roijen was saying you could talk about the land first and then you can talk about the building but you need to cover your entire case.

Okay, that's not how I interpreted what was said in the beginning.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking that wasn't wasn't being communicated properly there or understood.

I'm sorry there's misunderstanding.

I don't understand this.

We would love to hear anything that you have to say with regard to that or any evidence or photos that you have with regard to problems you've had.

I'll stop it there.

Mr. Lynch, are you going to explain this or?

Mr. Kane paid $170,000 for his lot back in, I think it was 2012 or so.

August 2012.

John, did you want to add anything about condition or grade on the property or any other thing?

I don't think Fox Chase would have allowed that to happen.

Because I don't remember any of those.

Everything seemed to be in good order to me.

And Mr. King can correct us, but I don't remember that coming up before today.

May I have a point of order here and ask, will I get a chance to address some of these issues that were sent or put forward that I said, especially about the property behind?

Go right ahead, Mr. King.

I have to go through and say, I have to think about it.

What did you pay for it?

$525,000 plus a little bit over that.

And do you think it's appreciated or do you think it's depreciated since you built it?

I've been fighting on some things.

We can't get into the subdivisions or how they enforce things.

We will be allowed to happen.

Mr. Farrell.

You said you only paid $525,000 for a... Well, what do you mean?

You gotta add the lot into it.

No, I'm talking about the cost of construction.

It cost a little over $500,000.

Okay, and did the assessor get a chance to get into your house to look around before this appeal?

No, they wouldn't come in.

Okay.

You made some statement about the land.

Yeah I mean we're not we're not we don't we don't set tax policy we're just talking about the assessment the assessor I believe Mr. Lynch can correct me I believe the assessor is county following the county law I mean we have nothing to do with the county law you might think it's unfair that you're taxed for land that you can't develop but that's that's just got nothing to do with us

Was that statement made?

I said there were 67 parcels in that neighborhood.

If you're going to lump it together, why wouldn't it be all together on a GIS?

Mr. Arsali?

So I'm hoping that was helpful, but just wanted to provide an extra explanation as to what we're doing, our role.

How do you determine your decision?

Mr. Wynn, do you have any questions for Mr. Kane?

I don't have any questions.

All right, Mr. Lynch, you look like you wanted to say something.

And that's the limit of the communication from the board.

Oh, you will not say why.

The letters, the communications don't include any of that information.

Do you understand?

Yeah, I understand.

Are there any further questions for Mr. Kane?

Part of it is.

It's not all on there.

Okay.

Why wasn't I told that?

Is that not correct, Mr. Lynch?

I don't know if that's what you meant, Mr. King.

All the properties?

and at the same time we reevaluated the, I don't know if we got into details or not when we had the conversation, but that is a blanket statement that talks about the fact that we've reevaluated everything in the determination of the value of the house.

It is what it is as the kids say.

Mr. Kane, do you have anything else you would like to add?

No, I guess that I've said enough, probably too much and probably my taxes will go up now but that's being a little sarcastic but

So I want you to feel free to call the Assessor's Office and ask.

What formula was used to determine that dollar value?

And though appraisal isn't a perfect situation, it always strives to get better.

Mr. Farrell?

Oh, I will.

What would you say about the HOA?

Well, if you have issues with the HOA, I think you should take them up with the HOA.

They won't answer any of my questions.

Okay, is that it?

Thank you, Mr. Kane.

Oh, is there going to be an attendees list and contact information sent out on this webinar?

We can send you a list of who is in attendance.

Okay, I would like to have that.

Never fail to ask questions.

I'm just trying to understand.

We have our next applicant coming up shortly.

Thank you.

Mr. Lynch, sounds like there was a lot of misunderstanding going on.

I'm not sure I can, I'm not sure I should make any comments.

Well, I'm just curious whether there was any hope in previous meetings of helping him understand better.

Okay.

Should we discuss if we think there's...

Mr. Arsali, what do you have to say?

As of January 1st, 2021, I think he hasn't shown enough to overcome his burden.

Mr. Wynn?

Totally agree.

Mr. Cromwell?

I'm just saying that just kind of got us going more around the barn.

Yeah.

I think that I would vote to affirm the assessment.

Do we have a second?

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Our next applicant is Mr. Strauss.

He's not here yet.

Is he coming on, or how are we going to do this?

Very good.

Are we calling him in or he has to call us?

He has to call us.

If we don't hear from him by 10, I'll put a call in to him to check.

Mr. Lynch, I see a lighthouse behind you.

I'm in Virginia Beach.

It looks like New England, no?

It does look New England-ish.

That particular property is having some issues with the septic, like there pretty much isn't one there.

It's right on the creek, right?

So that's the deal.

You think you could rent some land from across the road and pump it uphill?

That's what we want to hear.

Looks like Billy was trying to call.

So bear with us.

So I understand that's a difficult one.

Was he quoted 60,000 like a?

So we had information.

Waki?

Waki.

Were you ever in Lynchburg?

Now, born and raised right here in Charlottesville.

A great few people could say that.

Hey, I tell everybody, man, it's cool now, but it wasn't cool in first grade.

Is it possible to put on the screen the property or any of it that we're going to hear?

You want to see an aerial photograph of it or?

Well, I thought it might help everybody to sort of familiarize themselves or, you know,

So he's going to try again to connect.

Okay.

So we should be momentarily.

I can show the

I'm testing your technological proficiency.

So, you know, we'll let Mr. Strauss kind of talk about it and talk about what we are doing and, you know, and kind of see where we go there.

It's internal to us.

The land and the assessments, the adjustments, and all that kind of stuff, we can bring data out of vision and put it in there so we can kind of compare things.

Yes.

We put zoom out.

I'll put it back here.

So these are our grades.

Can you all hear Mr. Strauss?

Yes.

We'd like to have you go first to explain why you disagree with the assessment.

I know- Mr. Lynch.

Mr. Strauss.

If you got any questions, ask me, I'll be happy to answer them.

You have a problem with the...

Excuse me?

I'm listening.

You want the previous year numbers?

No, I'm curious if you have a problem with one side or the other in particular, the land or the building.

It's all about location and the land.

So do you think that your property is properly assessed at your appraiser's value?

and I won't complain about it.

Mr. Strauss, we're gonna let Mr. Lynch or Mr. Stevens explain their assessment.

They're gonna jack the property up $50,000 a year and drive me to this?

I'm not sure if that's a rhetorical question or not.

I'm just curious because the property should live there.

So yes, that is happening and it's a result of a number of different factors.

Seems like the cheaper houses are going up faster than the new ones.

And if you got a price of $210,000 from a flipper, that house, when they're done, it's going to be over $300,000, I assume.

The flipper you could almost call a destabilizing factor.

So if you got an offer 210 from a flipper...

They don't pay what you think they do.

I agree with you.

And then we have these crazy values that won't go down.

Fair enough.

But it definitely has issues, and we're not ignoring the fact that it has issues that need to be

I mean, there is mold in the basement, but there again, it's reflected in poor condition in our assessment.

All right, that's all we have, unless you have questions.

Now, I don't know if that's safe or if it would pass a county inspection, but it did concern me.

That's what moist should do to you.

They weren't there a couple of years ago when I was in there, but it's definitely, as time goes on, it's definitely settling.

Does anyone else have questions of the staff or Mr. Strauss?

It was not taken into account with the valuation of land because it's taking up about a quarter of the land and doesn't leave much buildable in case you need to build there.

and it is a water protection ordinance you know where you know you can't do certain things within it but it's not a flood plain you know where you know it's going to flood up into the house based on that this is just the one like 100 feet from the from a creek or stream is that right and and i and when we were just looking at that over uh head view i put the floodplain on and there was no floodplain there okay either 100 or 500 year

Correct.

Do you have any problems with it?

The sales comparison part, it was really a question of the comps that were used.

Is that the problem in your mind?

It's not pretty clear that the value is supported of $240,000 based on that appraisal.

Is that what the appraisal was?

I think it was $240,000.

We will discuss it and send you a letter explaining our decision or defining our decision.

All right, appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

You deserve a big thanks for coming out there, because seeing is believing.

Thank you.

I was just wondering, what would the valuation be if it is, I know you said the poor, below poor is uninhabitable, or what is it called and what would be the number at that point?

Yes, 251.4.

That's what I got.

So that's not much of a difference.

That's where I'm concerned.

We would add a separate item of abnormal physical depreciation on top of the condition of the house, which it would depend on what the issue was and what the estimate would be to repair the problem.

Excuse me one second.

Oh, Mr. Cromwell, go ahead.

From as is to... You're muted.

Again, I'm not a builder and I'm not a contractor, so I, you know.

David Ferrall, I'm curious what you think.

I find mold very easy to take care of.

It used to be like asbestos.

So, I mean, maybe he has some limitations to what he can do, but I'm not sure the tax assessment changes because the owner's unable or unwilling to tackle a problem.

Yeah, I think a dehumidifier would go a long way.

So this would sell for $258,000, in my opinion.

The assessment went up more on the land or on the house?

The improvements went down after the reassessment.

I mean, I just feel like the house is deteriorated, but that land can certainly go up in value.

and of course adjust for the issues that they have like his with the low wet issues but yes the land changed as part of this kind of realignment of this Crozet area and the combination of these kind of disparate neighborhoods that small neighborhoods that we had put together.

But do you think there was any hope of explaining this to him?

I mean, we readily answer these questions as they're asked.

All right, does anybody else have questions?

I think it might be even, should be reduced even more to land value, but that's my thought.

Mr. Ferrell.

1670 across the streets.

I think if you tried to move the building, I don't think you have but so much room to add to the building up uphill and downhill you've got nothing but problems.

Is there a reason?

It's a difficult lot.

Does Buck Road, is there a reason the lots across the street are assessed for less?

So I think if you were going to make a change, I would recommend that it be in the land.

I would agree with that.

I would my suggestion is to reduce whatever that number is from the land to get it down to the 240.

The exact number is the exact number.

I believe he said he spoke to Ann Mallock about the drainage issues and they were supposedly had an engineer looking at it.

He's told me that a couple of times.

116.1.

I would move for that, 240 total, 116.1 for Lant unless anybody else has any other thoughts.

From what I've heard, I don't think that sounds unreasonable.

Say again, David?

I don't know.

and David, maybe what you guys think?

tomorrow at 2.58, absolutely it would.

So anyways, I have my motion, but I appreciate your guys' thoughts.

We have a second by Mr. Ferrall, I think.

Yeah, I'm okay with that.

and hopefully Mr. Strauss sells it this year.

If he, you know, he pointed that out to him.

If 210, a flipper offers you 210, it's well above that.

Okay.

For a total of 240.

Thank you very much.

Is he going to have to do the same thing because next year the value may be, you know, 360 or something, you know, or whatever, or 250 or 280 as is, where it is.

Most likely because the market's going up quite a bit.

Yeah.

Are we gonna take a quick break here for five minutes?

Thank you.

Thank you.

and

Mr. Ferrell, just to make sure you notice Dana Grimm has joined us.

And John Stevens has left.

And Mr. Holland is in the waiting room.

on this vote.

I'm a belief of the belief that you can still ask questions.

Just out of curiosity, do you know the African or have a financial relationship?

I just know her.

I'll defer to Peter on that.

If you feel like it would be appropriate not to, that's fine.

Yeah, that makes good sense.

It's not an issue of comfortability.

Are we bringing the applicant on at this point?

Yes, please, Danielle, if you would do that.

Ms. Holland, good morning.

Good morning.

We are your friendly.

Can you hear me?

We are going to let you speak first and tell us why you don't agree with it.

But I just question the value of paying $800 a year to own property really concerns me.

So is it just that the taxes that you're paying that you're objecting to or you don't think it's worth $95,000?

And I really understand that the value of going to Almonte County is extremely high, but 95,000 for where it's located, I really don't think that it is worth that.

And did the assessor explain to you how he came up with the value for it?

Or did any of you look at the location of this parcel?

After we've finished speaking with you, the assessor will then explain how he came up with the evaluation.

So yes, I'm open to hearing what the assessor has to say.

Do you know what your neighbor's properties are assessed at?

Let's see.

Well you don't have to quote them, I'm just curious if you have seen the numbers.

I don't recall seeing anybody under $90,000.

So do you have anything else you'd like to say about the assessment?

And then if there's questions after his presentation, I'll hold off.

information about specifically how we value this property, the land, and it's just land unapproved.

You want to pull up the picture of it for Ms. Holland as well as us and you can describe it since we don't all need to look at each other, I guess, at this point.

And that's why we've adjusted for topography pretty substantially on this parcel on the remaining land.

Can you put that on the screen?

what's that for the water oh you want to see the water again okay on the screen it would help okay do you see that now no am i not sharing my screen yeah i see it i see the parcel but i don't see any water oh there we go

Ms. Holland, do you see that?

It's just a gray, a gray.

That looks like it's a lot.

That's if it floods.

It's basically a setback from the stream where you can't disturb or do certain things in that area if you were to improve the property.

You said if you were to improve it because it's not that wide.

Okay.

All right, and so you've taken this, you've discounted the value of the property because of this?

Yes, we did.

And you've discounted the value of the property because of access?

Correct.

Percentage-wise?

200.

Correct.

We're trying to explain that he has given you a discount.

and you know I believe there are definitely some issues with this property that compared to a property of the same that didn't have the same issues you know but I believe we've adjusted for them and and Dana if you would like to add anything any from your for your inspection or anything that you might want to add.

views all wooded land, typically the view is the woods.

Thank you, Ms. Graham.

Your name's on a handful of parcels around this one, is that correct?

Not that one.

All right, and they're all in land use, right?

Yes.

Have you tried to get this one in land use?

And there's a requirement, isn't there 12, you have to have 20 acres of land?

Because you've got properties around this one that are valued.

In order to qualify that, it must touch the boundaries of another property that I own, and that's not the case.

OK. Well, you own some properties around here that have much higher values than this one.

Yeah, I know, and what's saying to me is land use.

But you're not questioning the value of those, just the value of this one, because it's not in land.

But I do plan to come back and question some of those, especially Parcel 53.

Does it have a house on it?

I mean, I'm so.

It's assessed at $198,000.

It's 55.

55 has a house on it.

Yeah, 55.

Thank you so much.

I'm sorry.

Is that right, Mr. Lynch?

Yes, it was a 40% discount.

40%?

Those are all multiplied together.

Will this parcel qualify by itself for land use?

But this one, since it does not connect, it cannot be added.

Will I still need, will I be exempt or allowed to put that under land use with 19 acres?

if you want to do that, that you get with Eric Keene first to make sure that it would work once you do it.

But I thought maybe I'd just ask.

He's very knowledgeable and can guide you through any of your questions.

Exactly.

Mr. Cromwell.

That's just something you need to make sure you understand and they can walk you through that.

and give me eight for answering.

You want to be really prepared for that situation in the future.