Board of Equalization Meeting   4/24/2026

So we get great students, get those students.

David Mitchell, Frank.

David Norford, present.

Okay, is there a second?

I'll second.

Okay.

My turn?

You don't have any gentlemen?

You're going to give testimony to anyone from the Assessor's Office who might testify today.

And you can refer to me as Ed.

Got it.

If you don't have a copy or a picture of my home, I'll copy that also and I'll provide it to you.

It's the front picture.

Those are two of the features, that's claims that I have.

You have about one more minute.

Questions?

I don't know exactly what he's referring to.

Well, again, if you take the time, I'm able to cover them, but you're- You can't speak during this portion of the-

So if we put a value of... Plug everything in and say...

Because you're in this neighborhood, you're 105%, not 95%.

But that's basically where we are in Glenmore and where we are in this property.

Three minutes for Bo.

on the golf course on this form that was sent out that, I don't know, gentlemen, do you have this?

We have a black and white version of that.

Islands with the stoves, it's excessive.

Most of these descriptions you're talking about are interior.

The classification you're arguing about, the A versus the B. I've got a list of them, of what they are, which ones they claim I have, which I do not have.

The appraiser did get into your house?

She took pictures?

Only a picture of that unfinished room that really broke.

Because that seems like the crux of your heart.

Out of 40 items, I don't have 19.

I mean, so you mentioned the ceiling height already, but just- I don't have custom cabinets.

What I just described.

Mr. Lynch, when the assessor went out and looked at the property and reaffirmed the A plus one grade, was there any specific commentary that she provided to support that?

and then the correction and square footage.

I think Billie would be better answering that question.

I'm sorry, I didn't hear your answer, sir.

I'm just passing it on to Billie.

You're looking at the overall design and construction and knowing that the builder, the high-end builder, I don't think that that would be.

and it doesn't look like most of the homes are A plus one that you're looking at.

But we don't list every builder here.

Do you mean the items?

Do you mean 40 bullet points?

If you get to 39,

The ones that are important really have to do with the design, the exterior finish, the architectural detail when it comes to the 10 foot or 9 and 10 foot ceilings and the flooring and then the other crown molding and built-ins and all that kind of stuff.

Correct, so yes.

or to the supervisor.

I would argue that this swimming pool costs a hell of a lot more than a kitchen cabinet.

But of course, these are going to be like the incident rate of some of these features is only far higher.

I'm interpreting the guide word for word.

But aren't you arguing that because you don't have all the features you can't qualify as A plus one and if the guide says that sum can qualify you?

That is one of my arguments, yeah.

Is there a way for them to appeal that?

So it only has a part of that.

I've got to trust that professional and look at other factors in the appeal.

Now, the question is, sir, you mentioned in 2020- Excuse me.

You've used far more than the time that you were allotted, so we're in the deliberation phase now.

In a sense of- No, they're a mix.

It's just based on the description of the property itself.

So basically, the ones that are in the golf course section,

It's actually lower, which seems kind of odd.

I don't think there's enough evidence before the Court for you to feel like the different parties overcome the preponderance of the presumption of correctness in favor of the Assessor's Office on great

Is that something that can be done or not?

We can always come out and re-inspect the property.

He says he doesn't have a 10-foot ceiling, he doesn't have a 10-foot, you know,

Most of these details are non-GIS, so they can see the details at any time, in any year, in case they change.

It was an A plus.

It doesn't say if it has some, it should be upgraded.

So back in the period that he's talking about, it was actually an A plus two.

I don't know.

Earlier, he said- I don't know, but the board, I can answer your questions.

I don't have an idea to vote.

Is there a motion on this one?

I motion that the assessor's evaluation be reaffirmed.

Mr. Mayo, can we take five minutes?

I'm sorry, let me do that over.

Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony, both oral and documentary, which you are about to give, will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I understand.

Mr. Dimmer, is there like a common nexus of facts or an argument around your appeals or does it make more sense to handle them consecutively?

We want to break them out from there into three separate discussions we can.

And if we have specific questions on particular properties, we can address those.

OK.

But I won't be in there, but everything else.

Sure sounds good, thank you.

Yes please.

Okay.

Again, thank you for your consideration of my appeal.

some of the overlays on that.

Yes, and they're definitely steep slope, let me, sorry, steaming out of the way here.

Maybe the case that technically you could, but economically it may not be attractive and that's adjusted for by the topography.

And that's part of it.

It looks like you gotta go through the parcel.

No, it has road frontage here.

It's really hard to

I don't think you can build a house on it a lot.

Except you bought a buffer, you bought a buffer.

But this one we don't believe has any challenges.

No, I'm aware of that, that provide access to that flat on the back, the arrow.

No, no, I'm aware of no.

He owns both parcels.

Let me bring the nine acre parcel down.

So we have a shape adjustment and a topography adjustment of minus 50% for the remaining rest of the land.

and then you've taken the remaining seven-ish and you've reduced that additional 50% because of the... Plus another 10%.

That's how we're doing it.

Unless you have questions.

We asked Mr. Demmer if he had an appraisal since he just bought the home, and he indicated he did, but he wasn't willing to share it with us, so I don't know if there are any questions about that appraisal.

than the home when it was originally built, is that correct?

An average for a 1963 home, as of right now.

Okay, yeah, that was the other thing I wanted to clarify.

So my biggest, the average condition, 18% reduction, I see, correct, on the, two then.

Or 82.

That's the biggest thing that I've found out in writing.

I guess the real question is whether that's above or below the average expected for a 1963 home.

So you would like me to read it again or?

No, no.

I'm telling by myself.

So is the question we would like the Assessors Office to help us understand whether 18% is feasible?

Yeah, that's how you calibrate your numbers.

Some of it that he describes.

Currently it's average plus.

and that's kind of the offset of the constant upgrade.

That was a rental property several years.

I just don't know if they tried to sell it in 2020, they couldn't, and I think they've just pivoted to Airbnb and renting it.

Can you inspect it?

Why wouldn't it go with the sale price?

They were motivated to just sell them as one group.

And I guess we're what, 100,000 feet?

Now we have a very last piece of land in Albemarle County.

I don't understand why we wouldn't assess it at the 950.

It didn't sell all, it wasn't marketed and had to be sold all on free.

It was this one listing for all three parcels.

Yeah, we're ready for motion.

I'm not saying not to go to 950, I'm just saying I would need somebody to do that.

I'm going to leave everything else where he is.

The arrow parcel?

So that's where I'm trying to say one thing.

I also wasn't aware of myself of all these things when Katie came out and I'm living there and finding these official nuggets.

He's thinking, what was the question?

Would we have question time now?

Were you aware of those conditions that he described in his inspection?

Very few of them.

That's right.

We need to expect them how to properly get it to that.

So what would your motion on a 9.13 aggregate?

I think that's my opinion.

That's the one that I can fully justify as well that that parcel is just really the strongest usable piece of land.

$50,000 off.

It can't be less.

We're now calling it unbuilt.

If it was attached to the...

No, it's not the maximum, just based on a 50% reduction.

Absolutely.

We would not typically have a higher number than 50% for a manistose up like this.

We all do subdivisions, I understand why you do them, but it is what it is, and it's the condition we have.

Because at this point, we're not talking about development at all, so there's no even thought of how much it would cost to develop, but it's just how much is that land worth just as extra land for, you know?

Like in 2004, 2005, this property would be something that might sell.

Correct.

How many of those did you go with that one, the 82.6?

That does not bring you down to the sale price.

I mean, six weeks of appreciation following, right?

Can you put 75% down?

There's got to be some efficiency.

41.3.

Why didn't you want to share it with the appraiser's office?

I don't think that they're factoring in as everything that the county knows that I know in their appraisal and I don't think it's accurate.

Off the record, I'm giving you an opinion on what I think appraises something.

the final figure for the three parcels together with that adjustment.

We're going to leave the other two where they are and just reduce the one, okay, the arrows.

As long as it doesn't get argumentated.

Yeah, no argument for anything.

So I think it's there that you want to walk them through and maybe you could get that condition reduced.

Also with the data point of the sales price and there being additional weight, that's supposed to be now over a year removed from that.

You may not be honestly happy, but

I think you guys were getting at this, but the changes that would potentially be approved with the nine-acre parcel, what guardrails are there for next year or the year after not seeing a, you know?

The board has no control over anything but this year.

I think I would have an uphill climb if I'm still on.

What did we just finally decide we were doing?

I think your motions will be for each, but to answer the question, $975,100 is what I came up with for a total value of three.

We're done.

Yes.

41,300, I'm sorry.

You can take a moment, break.

Here's the package I want to send to all of the educators, and please provide copies to the leading members.

That happened?

Yeah, I'm fine with that.

I was going to say if there's any difference between showing all three together and what each one would be where it's individual.

Thank you for being here today.

Well, it has to make no difference.

It has to all of us.

It's all of us.

I want to know what engineered treaty it is, like what's on the plaque.

We've received this through Gmail last night.

So this is right there.

I believe we are, but I don't know if Steven Caspaz goes from on it.

Well, thank you very much.

Are there going to be more than two, I believe?

So should we just start or how do you guys want to go?

And I also, because there's three different, I don't know timing wise, how do you want to handle it?

It tends to get us off track, but information presented, arguments presented, and we may have questions for you to help us understand your position.

So if I'm happy to answer any questions that I can.

Thank you, Mr. Mitchell.

So all of that is the reality of the property and we believe we adjust for that in our land value.

I'm trying to follow the rules, David.

but we are addressing for those and Dana if you just want to we have a few minutes left

But yeah, we did think that the A minus one was much more appropriate than the A plus where it was before.

But it definitely has features of an A house.

We felt that it was in the A range for sure.

Did you take some interior photos?

We did take some interior photos.

So if the board is interested in seeing them, I will

If you could sort of talk about how we came up with a value for the outbuildings.

I'm just looking at the numbers right now.

So there's another $590,000 of value besides the main structure.

There's a large metal utility building kind of at a distance from the house and then a smaller metal utility shed.

And there's a shop.

It's got an overhang that was damaged by the tree.

above the garage, all of those items.

This is all on one car, Sam.

Was the atrium that Mr. Fitch had mentioned counted as a sub-area or is that

Got it.

Interior photos.

The pictures on the screen are the interior of the main house.

Yes.

And you have to pass through another room to get, to get to, which is what we're adjusting for in our depreciation, extra depreciation.

Yes, it's two cottages.

Right, but however, I believe the... E plus one.

Oh, I think I was actually looking at something I'd opened earlier.

Yes, $1,044,600 for the main house, $63,700 for the second house, the second cottage, or the second house, which is a cottage, and then $90,800 for the second cottage.

And then what are, so the outbuilding then is just a metal barn with a workshop?

So the first one would be a detached garage that has a finished apartment over.

Okay.

Are these all on the first part?

So we're going to have to add them up for you, but scroll down.

So we've got two Butler buildings, which are a total of 106,700.

It's a certain style of building.

Well, there is a company that they come and go.

Oh, it's up for a beef up there.

And then there's $400 for a deck for the garage apartment.

that the disagreement is about a million dollars, but that's all on the land value.

to Mr. Lynch's previous comment about conservation easements.

That's for an example.

Mr. Friedman, I just want to make sure we're focused on where the- My notes indicate a disagreement on the land value of about $1.1 million.

There is a disagreement on the land value.

Which accounts for

You can't look at it as just one component versus another component.

Is that correct?

these are so atypical that they really kind of break a model that these models don't work well with these types of properties.

How much is that above where you think it should?

I honestly don't have a copy of my appraisal in front of me, so I can't give you a specific number, but I don't think there's a large delta there.

It's really where all the activists are.

I'm happy to talk about that here in a few if you want.

Let's talk about land.

This is why I had something she wanted to bring up real quick, so I'm going to let her do so.

We'd have to get approval for it, so.

But I mean, it's not something that really impairs value once you see them on the resale market.

Can it not be billed on?

Oh, zoom out, of course.

Oh, sorry.

A light farm is just your driveway.

Anything else from the applicant?

We'd be going through a flood plain.

Most investors if they're going to buy something like this they're going to buy it at a very low price because of the inherent risks here.

Good, anything else?

I guess I'd like to understand from the

I'd just like to have you walk through the deductions for this.

Correct, what you applied and your logic.

Right.

No.

Correct.

Yeah.

100 acres that include the floodplain and the water protection area.

55 of those acres are in flood.

Then 100 acres.

The floodplain plus water protection.

204 all together, correct.

I guess the bigger question is just do we think there's sufficient evidence in the record before us that the Assessor's Office has under appreciated those challenges or undervalued the challenges, right, with the numbers we just asked about?

Is that just your, like an access farm road?

And it also goes to one of the secondary dwellings.

All right, so just zoom out, just put those colors back on it.

Because it doesn't look like anything that we can access.

Hopefully this weekend you'll be able to see this.

And to your point, every roadster within 100 miles a year are cussing that fella for adding to the system.

If the use is approved and it requires a widening, they can't say, well, I know you can use it, but you can't get to it.

That's kind of concerning.

I just wanted to get a feel for the overall thing and the access issues.

So we have to quickly.

So treating it as a parcel that has any development rights I think is just unfair to the parcel.

Almost to nothing.

Based on state law, we would then have to assess it at land use rates, not at market rates.

That's how my property is.

But it's not a meaningful number because you're not a tax model.

It's a meaningful number for being on my tax bill.

Before and after conservation easements, there's not that much to it.

Now sometimes you will see it and like when you get out to more rural areas around the region you do see a huge delta between them but here in Albemarle and Loudoun County is the same way because the second most conservative county we've studied it I mean I've been in business 26 years I've spent 20 of it studying this stuff and we just don't see a large delta between them once they resell

It can vary definitely, but I think no adjustment is absolutely not appropriate.

I can't support treating it like a conservation easement.

It doesn't necessarily fit to the real world, all of it.

To adjust the value?

It's not nothing.

What was the name of the surveyor?

I think he's the company.

I don't think I can get over the hump of preponderance.

Well, I mean- Over what?

We need a third party involved with this and maybe it's going to the community development and getting them to write a letter of determination on it.

And community development is not going to make a decision on the property unless a plan is actually submitted to the property.

We've got them in the past.

of comparing the sales of conservation easement properties to the non-conservation easement.

It's a holistic look at the market in general.

my modification due to access because they did not put any factor in for access and it's obviously a portrait nexus restricted I mean I could entertain that but could you just real quick to remind me of what the reason

to access over another parcel.

I'm not saying that's necessarily correct, but that's why we did it.

Yeah.

It is always done.

What did we do?

Yes.

of January 1.

Mr. Mayo, I'm not sure I completely answered Mr. Mitchell's question, but we would also apply the 10% to the parcel that it goes through, like we discussed the other day on a different property.

I know you said I'm not allowed to ask a question, but can one of you pay?

Why don't you go ahead and ask and we can decide whether they answer.

Because it seems like there are one end here and one end here, but it's not, neither of them appear to be.

Look at sales and how that goes into this.

We adjust from that no-issue situation to what the property is.