Taxes are due in city and county on June 5, and as you’re struggling to make out that check, we’re wondering: How does the magic happen? How do those cats in the assessors office formulate the numbers that translate into our—and businesses’—fair share for county services?
 How much is Target worth? $12.8 million, according to the county assessors ($8.5 million for the building and $4.3 million for the land). The base land assessment is $24 per square foot, but that was adjusted to $10.80 per square foot because of store’s large size. Doesn’t it make you wish your job was to appraise 42,000 parcels across the county? |
For answers, we turned to Albemarle County Assessor Bruce Woodzell. Born and raised in the area, Woodzell has 28 years experience in the appraisal business, but still is quick to tell us that while he and his staff of eight try to take all the factors into account, “it’s an opinion. That’s all an appraisal is—an opinion of value.”
Commercial properties are affected by myriad factors, many of them going back to the mantra, “Location, location, location.” “I can also adjust it for a multitude of reasons,” Woodzell says. “Visibility from the highway, is it on a corner, where it’s located in a shopping center. There’s a ton of factors that can affect a piece of land.”
Take the Target property on Route 29N. The land’s assessed at $24 per square foot, coming to $10.3 million. But that is adjusted down because of the sheer size of the store to $10.80 per square foot ($4.3 million total).
A common perception is that appraised value is less than market value. “That’s not what I’m charged with, I’m charged to create 100 percent fair market value, for a given point
in time.”
That given point in time can’t include plans for the future, even for properties like North Pointe and Biscuit Run. Up until its rezoning last year, the land where North Pointe will be had a dramatically lower appraisal because it was used for agricultural/forestry uses. Though the land of a 63-acre parcel was assessed at $4.1 million in 2005, owners only paid taxes on $17,800 of value thanks to the tax—reducing a bill from $30,800 to $132. But those taxes are deferred, not completely forgiven. With the rezoning, owners have been presented with a bill for five years of back-taxes, plus interest.
But until properties are rezoned, they can’t be taxed at a higher rate, even if the parcels are in the growth area. That goes for Biscuit Run. “I know it’s coming,” Woodzell says, “but the law only says, ‘Bruce, you can only appraise it as it is on January 1, under the current zoning. Do not speculate.’”
This year promises to be particularly hectic around the county assessor’s office, as Albemarle is moving to annual, rather than biennial, assessments. The nine assessors will have eight months to appraise roughly 42,000 parcels. “It’s going to be a challenge for us to get it done, but we’ll use tried and true appraisal methods and do it.”
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