I live in a modest house built in the early 1960s on a nice lot typical of the era. Asking around the neighborhood mostly the assessments ended up with a total pretty close to the previous year, some a little more, some a little less. This was a screwy move on the part of the tax office but I'm just not seeing any grand conspiracy on the part of the county board in this.  Just another government employee tone deaf on the political ramification of an action taken.

Those of us who have the massive incomes necessary to live in Great Falls empathize with the unnamed (and uninformed) Great Falls taxpayer (and RK reader) who attacked Connolly but refused to give his name.

We unnamed Great Falls residents was to make sure Connolly doesn't win the primary because we don't want him to hurt our investments in oil, gas, and coal.

Connolly would vote in Congress take away the tax breaks for the oil companies that hurt you little people but help Exxon line OUR pockets with stock dividends from record profits.

Connolly would vote to take away the special tax breaks on our capital gains that allow us to escape paying taxes on our profitable investments.

We would rather have Leslie Byrne because she has proven to be an ineffective legislator.  Besides, she has a cozy relationship with a Dominion Energy lobbyist who contributed to her campaign and sponsored her big fundraiser at the JJ dinner.  Byrne may talk a good game but she won't get anything done in Congress.

Connolly is a different story.  He has a record of accomplishment and we don't want him getting elected to Congress and screwing up our tax breaks for the super-rich.

All of 2008 I've been getting calls from Harry Homeowners wanting to appeal their assessments. So I ask them the first question the County Attorney asks every appellant on the stand:

"Would you accept an offer from me to buy your house for [the dollar amount of assessment]?"

Invariably Harry Homeowner exclaims "No way! It's worth more than that!"

Case over, Harry loses.

Our State Constitution requires assessments to reflect fair market value as of January 1 each year. Because assessors rely on recorded deeds which frequently are recorded 3 to 6 months after the contract is signed, the assessments regularly trail the current sales prices both on the way up and the way down.  

In Fairfax and across VA, r/e taxes are less than 1-2% of property value. VA's tax burden is consistently among the lowest among the 50 states.  

Do we really want a road system that is equal to Arkansas or schools equal to Alabama or Mississippi? (Three of the few states where the tax burden is lower than Va.)

Our expenditures on schools tracks almost perfectly with the amount raised in real estate taxes across Virginia.  Since education creates human capital which most closely correlates with income levels and not real estate values, I will admit that it makes a lot more since to fund local education with a local piggy back income tax, as several states already do, and not with a regressive tax, like the real estate tax.

But someone in Fairfax complaining that their real estate taxes are too high is either living on a very low fixed income  (i.e. suffering from its regressive aspects) or needs a wider perspective and deeper insight.

Sadly, this "outraged citizen" does not have the facts straight.

a.) Connolly and the other Supervisors have nothing to do with this; the tax collection in the county is independent...the tax administrator is technically independent and so is the work of his staff.

b.) The County Announced long ago in early March (see Web links below) that this reevaluation would not result in any changes to the original value. The only change would be how the two numbers that make up an assessment would be divided. So of course there were no magical changes to his property.

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/n...

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/d...

if we trash Connolly too much, we could wake up next year to Rep. Fimian, an independently wealthy Republican who would have no reason to suck up to us, even as half-heartedly as Tom Davis has done every other year close to election time?

In the future, if an RK reader, uncomfortable with blogging her or himself, can't do better than this, I think she or he should be sent to NLS.

n/t

You're smarter and more connected than I, but I am who I am.  Don't mind me; I'll be here, occupying the paranoid, driven-crazy-by-Republicans wing of the party.

We'll get one chance to trash Connolly without having his idiocy cost a seat in Congress- it's between now and June 10.

I simply believe that this is a prime chance to elect a true progressive Democrat to Congress, not just settle for the typical corporatist, DLC Democrat when it's all but an automatic Democratic pickup.

I'm definitely for Leslie.  I've endorsed her.  Heck, I'm going to HQ tomorrow to make more calls for her.  I'll knock on doors, and I'll probably work on June 10 to GOTV.  In the unfortunate event Connolly gets the nomination, I'm sure I'm going to find him very much more acceptable than Fimian or whoever the GOP nominates.  I hope the Dems grab that seat.  If Connolly grabs it, I'll be fine with encouraging a true progressive to primary him two years from now.

That's quite a statement there.

Then again, I'm sure Frank Wolf has no chance of getting re-elected in your mind, either.

Fimian has a 0.1% chance. How's that for "long odds?"

As to Frank Wolf, he's obviously the odds-on favorite, but he'd better watch out cuz Judy Feder is gaining on him fast!

Beginning in the 1980's I noticed that, as property tax assessments began reflecting the rising market prices of homes sold, the difference was attributed overwhelmingly to the improvements, not the land.  At the time I thought this odd, since the iprovements (that is, the house or other structures on the land) were clearly growing older each year, and thus depreciating. It was in fact the land that was pulling the higher sales price, which is logical... you know, Location, location, location. The tax assessor decided this year to adjust the way the assessments are done, to reflect that fact. Hence the sudden increase in the assessment on the land. Unfortunately, the assessor chose the very year market prices have declined in many neighborhoods, and people professed to be bewildered.

Two more points: assessments do indeed reflect market prices, but only settled transactions, and so tax assessments lag anywhere between 6 and 18 months behind current market valuations. Also, there are, even in this notoriously down market, some neighborhoods which have actually had market price increases over the past year, and among these are some Alexandria areas, and, it would seem, some in Great Falls.  If the aggrieved home owner goes to the County land records (or asks his Realtor to do so) to check comparable sales in his neighborhood and in nearby areas, he can discover if his assessment is reasonable and, if not, make a formal complaint to the Equalization Board.

Disclaimer: I have been a Realtor in NoVa since 1967.  

is on the county website. Look at the assessments for houses in your neighbor.

If you live in the 10th, vote for Judy Feder this June, and again in the general, and get all your friends to learn about her too!