Evening star., 1945-07-22
.Re-Assessnlenf
.0fArIington
'PropertyUrged
Committee Urges
Valuation Based
On Market Price

The Arlington Reassessment
Committee yesterday told the
County Board 1t favors boosting the
assessment ON county real estate
from the present 40 per cent to
100 per cent of its true market
value, provided the State Corpora,
ton Commission will do the same
with county utility properties.
Under a full market value as
sessment, the committee said, the
present s2.85 tax rate would be re-
duced to $1.l5.
The committee Pointed out the
present system is bad because the
low assessment requires a high tax
rate This, the committee said, is
unfair to the county and mislead-
ing to prospective real estate in
vestors. 1t also said the low assessed
valuation may harm the county's
future borrowing capacity.
Members of the committee are
F. Freeland Chew, chairman; Com
monwealth's Attorney Lawrence w.
Douglas, County Manager Frank C..
Hanrahan and Commissioner Of
Revenue Harry K. Green.
Board Action Deferred.
Board action on the recommenda-
ton was deferred because Mr.. Chew
had to leave the meeting early.
Under Virginia law, the commits
tee said, the State Corporation Com
mission. has exclusive jurisdiction
over the assessment of utility prop
erty, although each county fixes its
own taxation rate and receives the
resulting revenue.
In Arlington, it said, the present
assessed valuation Of utility property
is $5,086, ,230. At the present tax
rate this produces a tax revenue Of
s144,957. Under full market value
assessment, with the tax rate re-
duced to $115, the lower tax rate
would apply to utility property.
although the assessment could not
be increased This would result in
an annual county tax loss of $685.
465.3
For this reason, the committee did
not feel justified in recommending
the increase to full market value
unless the State Corporation Com
mission will equalize assessments on
utility property.
Would Compare Favorably With d. C.
The county would compare favor
ably with the District of Columbia
under the full market value basis,
with a S1.15 tax rate compared with
the District rate of SITS.
! County officials expect that the
valuation of county real estate will
jump from present $50 ,00o, 900 10
$100, ,000, 900, through the elimination
of current ineauities on numerous
property assessments.
Z The committee recommended that
the County Board retain the serv-
ices of Cuthbert E. Reeves, revalu-
alton expert from Buffalo, N. Y, or
some other known expert, for rea-
sonable time to assist the assessors.
The committee said, however, that
it would seem expedient to postpone
this action until the assessors have
been appointed and have an oppor-
tunity to express their own views.
Mr. Reeves already has worked in
a consulting capacity with the COM
mittee for some time.
The committee stated it believes
there is no magic in the term Sci
entific assessment and added that
lin the last analysis d. q. the quality
of this or any other assessment of
real estate depends upon the energy
and skill of those who are appointed
to the task and that local knowledge
of real estate values should be COM
bined with a general knowledge Of
assessment principles and supported
by the best available data to produce
the best results"
Judge Walter T. Mccarthy will
appoint the assessors, who are
scheduled to start January /, and
work throughout the wear.