By Tim Cox/Editor
Legislation introduced by Del. Robert Orrock has put Caroline Commissioner of Revenue Sharon Carter and her office in the spotlight over the issue of assessing wetlands.
Orrock, a Republican who lives in Woodford, introduced a bill in the current session of the General Assembly that would require a commissioner of revenue, at the request of a property owner, to assess wetlands on the owner’s land.
The legislation, if it becomes law, would apply to all commissioners of revenue in Virginia and does not specifically refer to Caroline County. However, according to Caroline’s comprehensive plan, the county contains about 34,500 acres of wetlands. Only about 16,600 are currently assessed as wetlands, according to Blue Ridge Mass Appraisal Co., which did the county’s reassessment in 2010.
In Caroline, wetlands are assessed at only $500 per acre. Other classifications of land are assessed much higher. Therefore, people who own wetlands that have not been assessed likely are paying higher real estate taxes because the assessed value of their land is higher than it should be.
Orrock acknowledged that he received “anecdotal evidence” that in Caroline only about half of wetlands, as classified by the National Geological Survey, actually are assessed as wetlands.
In fact, it was brought to Orrock’s attention last fall that land owned by three members of his family through a trust has not been assessed as wetlands. The Cornelia Orrock Estate is listed as the owner of the land, 590 acres located west and south of Orrock Lane. Most of the 397 acres of land is farmland. The property is enrolled in the county’s land use program, which applies lower assessments to land used for forestry, agriculture, horticulture or open space. However, even land classified as agricultural under the county’s land use program is assessed at $750 per acre, higher than the assessment for wetlands. The Cornelia Orrock Estate tract contains considerable wetlands, in part because the southern boundary of the property is the Matta River, yet none of the land is assessed as wetlands.
Without directly referring to the family trust, Orrock acknowledged that wetlands, which should be assessed at $500 an acre, are being recorded on Caroline County’s tax rolls as productive farmland and valued at $750 an acre.
His family’s property “could be affected” by the legislation, said Orrock.
It’s not just about the money, he said. “It’s a fairness issue.”
When asked about Orrock’s legislation, Carter launched into an explanation of the types of records her office is required to keep. “We are instructed by the [state] Department of Taxation,” she said Monday of this week.
“On the land book goes the total of your land and a total of improvements. Improvements can include a house and several buildings,” Carter explained. Land books “are a picture of the bills that are sent out to the treasurer,” she added.
“Land records are where a lot of the breakdown of information is maintained,” said Carter.
She referred questions about the county’s geographic information system (GIS) to Mike Finchum, director of the department of planning and community development. The county’s GIS, accessible via the Internet, makes use of the National Wetlands Inventory database and can be used to indicate if wetlands exist on a parcel of land.
“A GIS system is a planning tool,” said Carter, “but when it comes to mapping, the mapping really comes under his department. Here, the commissioner of the revenue is not required to have maps. We have tax maps, just to give a picture and a location. They are not legal documents.”
When pressed further about Orrock’s legislation, Carter acknowledged that, if the bill becomes law, she would be required to assess wetlands at the request of a landowner. “I must have that verified that the wetlands are truly there,” she added. “Because the maps, the inventory of wetlands, was created by our federal government in the early 1990s.”
The county’s last general reassessment was performed in 2010 by Staunton-based Blue Ridge Mass Appraisal Co. “The general reassessment comes under the Board of Supervisors,” said Carter. Taxpayers may appeal their assessments to the county’s Board of Assessors and then to the Board of Equalization, she noted. “I am their record keeper.”
On Monday of this week, Orrock’s legislation, House Bill 80, was amended by the House Finance Committee and sent to the full House of Delegates. The amendments include language that require a commissioner of revenue to refer to the National Wetlands Inventory Map prepared by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service if the official disagrees with a property owner about the presence of wetlands.
Orrock said the purpose of his bill is to create “a mechanism where the landowner can appeal to the Board of Assessors and say, ‘I have wetlands, and you don’t have to take my word for it…” The National Wetlands Inventory would be the arbiter.
A fiscal analysis of the legislation performed by the state Department of Taxation noted,
“To the extent that owners of property containing wetlands elect to have such property separately assessed, or local commissioners of the revenue elect to have any other property separately assessed, the bill would result in a decrease of local revenues, the magnitude of which is unknown.”
(Leah Small of Capital News Service contributed to this report.)
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