H. B. 3198
(By Delegates Ellem, D. Poling and Ireland)
[Introduced March 18, 2009; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §11-1C-9 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to lengthening the reevaluation
cycle of real property from every three years to every five
years; and limiting any assessment increase to ten percent in
any one year.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §11-1C-9 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1C. FAIR AND EQUITABLE PROPERTY VALUATION.
§11-1C-9. Periodic valuations.
(a) After completion of the initial valuation required under
section seven of this article, each assessor shall maintain current
values on the real and personal property within the county. In
repeating
three-year five-year cycles, every parcel of real
property shall be visited by a member of the assessor's staff who
has been trained pursuant to section six of this article to
determine if any changes have occurred which would affect the valuation for the property. With this information and information
such as sales ratio studies provided by the Tax Commissioner, the
assessor shall make
such adjustments
as are necessary to maintain
accurate, current valuations of all the real and personal property
in the county and shall adjust the assessments accordingly.
(b) In any year the assessed value of a property or species of
property be less than or
exceed exceeds sixty percent of current
market value, the Tax Commissioner shall direct the assessor to
make the necessary adjustments
: Provided, That no change in a
property's valuation may result in more than a ten percent increase
in assessment in any one year. If any assessor fails to comply
with the provisions of this section, the Tax Commissioner may, at
the county commission's expense, take reasonable steps to remedy
the assessment deficiencies.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the reevaluation
cycle of real property be lengthened from every three years to
every five years. The bill also limits any assessment increase to
ten percent in any one year.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.