According to the Virginia Constitution, all real estate must be assessed at market value, so Rockingham County is performing reassessments again. The last reassessment occurred in 2005, and was effective January 1, 2006. Now that 2010 is here, its time for another round!

County officials actually began reassessing properties about 18 months ago. All sales since January of 2006 were used to assess value, but the most weight was given to those sales that occurred most recently, in 2009.

The results? On average, taxable real estate in Rockingham County has increased by 3.64%. All classes showed an average increase in value as follows:

• Residential: 2.06%
• Multi-Family / Rental: 5.29%
• Industrial / Commercial: 8.52%
• Agricultural: 2.55%

According to Rockingham County, “The taxable value of land increased 11%. Rockingham County has land use valuation, which values agricultural land based on its use. Land use values provide a tax break from the fair market value of the land.”

Interesting fact: 57% of all taxable properties in Rockingham County experienced no increase in value, or decreased in value.