Board of Equalization

The Deadline to Submit an Appeal to the 2022 Board of Equalization was 4:00 p.m., April 29, 2022. 

12007 Courthouse Circle
P O Box 150, New Kent VA 23124
Telephone (804) 966-8754 / FAX (804) 966-9370

The deadline to file an application to schedule a hearing with the Board of Equalization for an appeal of FY22 Assessments was 4:00 p.m. on April 29, 2022. Hearings were scheduled and held during the month of June 2022.  Minutes for these hearings may be found at the bottom of this page.
  
2022 Application for Equalization of Real Property (PDF)

2022 Board of Equalization Membership (PDF)

Boards of Equalization (generally)

• Local boards are made up of a majority of local citizen freeholders appointed by the circuit court or by the governing body.
• Members must be broadly representative of the community, and at least 30% must be comprised of current or former professionals in the real estate, construction, financial or legal fields. This includes commercial or residential real estate appraisers, other real estate professionals, builders, developers, or legal or financial professionals.
• At least one such member shall sit in all cases involving commercial, industrial or multi-family residential property, unless waived by the taxpayer.
• Have specific powers that are limited to the review of real estate taxation. Chapter 32, Article 14 of Title 58.1 of the Code of Virginia, delineates the powers and responsibilities of local boards of equalization.

A Board of Equalization must:

• Hear or receive complaints concerning the fair market value or uniformity of real estate assessments from any taxpayer or his agent, (the taxpayer may be the owner or a lessee of the property);
• Hear or receive all complaints concerning objections to the real estate assessment of any taxpayer from the city or county attorney or the appointed representative of the city or county;
• Post public advertisement of its meetings;
• Keep minutes of its meetings and notify the property owner, the commissioner of the revenue or director of finance or real estate assessor of any assessment change;
• Correct any known duplication or omissions in the assessment roll;
• Hear complaints concerning special assessment for agricultural, horticultural, forest and open space land use assessment (land use values are set by the commissioner of the revenue or permanent assessor, rather than by a board of assessors);
• Conduct its meetings in public;
• Prepare an annual written report of their actions and make such report available, upon request, to the public, the local governing body of the respective county, city or town and to the Tax Commissioner

In order to facilitate the performance of its duties the equalization board may:

• Summon before it any taxpayer or any other person to furnish information relating to the real estate of any and all taxpayers; to answer, under oath, all questions touching the ownership and value of such real estate and to furnish books of account or other documents containing such information;
• Summon the Commissioner of the Revenue or Assessing Officer of the locality to attend its meetings without additional compensation and to inform the board of such inequalities in assessments as may be known to him;
• Enter and inspect any real estate subject to equalization by the board; and
• Increase or decrease any assessment so that the ends of justice will be served in that the burden of taxation will rest equally upon all citizens of the locality.

In the exercise of its duties the board of equalization cannot:

• Void a general reassessment or annual assessment;
• Order a new reassessment;
• Make overall (blanket) increases or decreases in assessments for the locality;
• Increase any assessment without first notifying the property owner and giving him an opportunity to show cause against such increase, unless such property owner has already been heard;
• Make assessment changes that are either retroactive for past years or prospective for future years;
• Alter assessments on any real estate assessable by the State Corporation Commission or the Department of Taxation;
• Classify property, (determine if the property is to be assessed as real estate or personal property);
• Exempt property; and
• Change the method of valuing a class of property.

(Excerpted from the Va. Dept of Taxation Board of Equalization Manual)

2022 Board of Equalization Minutes (PDF)
2020 Board of Equalization Minutes (PDF)
2018 Board of Equalization Minutes (PDF)
2016 Board of Equalization Minutes (PDF)