County’s Board of Equalization to hear more property assessment appeals
There will be another round of hearings on property reassessments in coming weeks following action Monday evening by the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors.
Also, the date of the county’s official observance of Halloween has been set and the board has given a preliminary OK to a project to create the County of Pulaski – New River Pedestrian Bridge.
The board Monday unanimously approved an ordinance establishing deadlines necessary before the county’s Board of Equalization can re-convene to hear additional property owners’ requests for relief from the 2020 reassessment.
Supervisors Chairman Joe Guthrie explained that the Board of Equalization had met earlier in the year to hear from citizens who had questioned how their property had been assessed.
Seventy-nine citizens filed appeals through the Commissioner of Revenue office to have their cases for relief heard by the Board of Equalization in that first round of hearings.
At the Board of Supervisors’ meeting last month, Commissioner of Revenue Kim Matthews had approached the board asking that the Board of Equalization be re-convened to hear additional appeals.
Her reasoning then, which Guthrie repeated Monday, was that some citizens were not able to be heard earlier by the Board of Equalization prior to the deadline primarily because of issues surrounding COVID.
To date, 30 additional requests have been submitted to the commissioner concerning reassessment appeals.
The ordinance approved by the supervisors sets Oct. 25 as the deadline for applications for relief from the 2020 reassessment by property owners or lessees who have not previously had applications considered by the Board of Equalization.
A second deadline established by the ordinance sets Nov. 12 as the date by which the Board of Equalization must complete their work on all applications.
Hearings before the Board of Equalizations are scheduled for Nov. 8 and 10. The Board of Equalization must submit assessment changes to the County Assessor by Nov. 12 and Change Notices must be mailed by Nov. 19.
Citizens should contact the Commissioner of Revenue office to file an appeal of their property assessment.
Halloween
The Board of Supervisors established Saturday, Oct. 30 as the day Halloween would be observed within the county.
Pedestrian Bridge
The supervisors voted unanimously to apply through the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Transportation Alternatives Program for up to $3.8 million to fund the design and construction of the County of Pulaski – New River Pedestrian Bridge.
It was noted the vote does not commit the county to the project but is only the first preliminary step toward funding of the project.
Approval of the application would create a 50-50 split in funding between VDOT and a match from Pulaski County and its partners in the project, Radford University, the City of Radford and private developers.
County Administrator Jonathan Sweet noted the local match amounts can be in money or in-kind contributions to the project.
The bridge would make use of the old Norfolk and Western trestle connecting Radford to the county near Herron’s Landing across the New River. It would also connect Radford’s trail system to the county’s in the area of the Herron’s Landing housing project.
By MIKE WILLIAMS, The Patriot
