News Virginian: "Meeting to address reassessments"

Bob Stuart at the Waynesboro News Virginian has publicized the upcoming meeting for the "Augusta Citizens Against Unjust Assessments" to be held Tuesday night:

Augusta County residents are starting to mobilize as a group to battle their property reassessments.

Residents upset about the increase in values will meet Tuesday night to discuss the issue. The meeting is set for 7 p.m. in the fellowship hall of Verona United Methodist Church on U.S. 11 next to Burger King in Verona.

Augusta County resident Lynn Mitchell, active in the Augusta County Republican Party and a blogger, is organizing the meeting.

“We thought it would be a small gathering,” Mitchell said Sunday. “But now it sounds like a big group. We’ll bring neighbors and families.”
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Scheduled to speak are Churchville attorney Francis Chester and Augusta County Supervisor Tracy Pyles.

Chester has mounted a petition drive to get county supervisors to roll back property values to the 2005 amount.

He said Sunday that he has collected in excess of 1,000 signatures of property owners, including 400 alone from a pickup point at a convenience store between Staunton and Churchville.

“I’m getting calls now from throughout the state. People are picking up on this and having similar problems in their own county,” said Chester, who said he had fielded calls over the weekend from Northern Virginia and Williamsburg.

The attorney has said he will file a class-action lawsuit in circuit court if Augusta County supervisors do not roll back the values after he meets with them March 11.

Mitchell said Chester’s petition drive should get added steam Tuesday.

“A lot of people want the petitions,” she said.

Together, Augusta ... we can make a difference.