City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: FEBRUARY 8, 2017
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Consideration of the Calendar Year 2017 Real Property Assessments.
BODY
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ISSUE: (1) 2017 Notices of Assessment will be mailed to property owners on February 15; and (2) OREA staff will present the new real estate values at the February 14 City Council legislative meeting.
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council receives the report.
BACKGROUND: Included in the attached report are the annual changes in real property assessments from CY 2016 to CY 2017 and historical statistics related to assessment appreciation/depreciation, new construction, and residential sales activities.
Assessment notices will be mailed to property owners on February 15 and reflect updated market values as of January 1, 2017, as well as those for the previous two years. The 2017 tax rate applicable to the January 1, 2017 assessed value is not scheduled to be set by the City Council until May 4, 2017. Therefore, the annual tax liability cannot be reflected in the Notice of Assessment.
DISCUSSION:
OVERALL CHANGE IN CY 2017 REAL PROPERTY TAX BASE
This year, the City's overall assessed real property tax base increased 2.07% from the original January 1, 2016 assessment to January 1, 2017, or $792 million from $38.2 billion in CY 2016 to $39.0 billion1 in CY 2017 (Attachment 1, Page 2, Line 73, Column 6). This is the lowest tax base increase since the Great Recession impacted assessments in 2009 and 2010. It is also the third worst performing change in the tax base in the last two decades. This increase reflects stable to moderate improvements in both the residential and rental apartment sectors of the market. Commercial assessments also increased with general commercial and hospitality sectors leading the way. The following table ...
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