Augusta Citizens Against Unfair Assessments townhall meeting

Francis Chester addresses Augusta County residents.

Media coverage

Francis Chester talks with press.

"Across America, home values have plunged, but property taxes—the tax homeowners pay based on their homes’ assessed value—have not. More and more homeowners are filing appeals."
--Parade Magazine (May 31, 2009)

Earlier this year, Augusta County residents expressed outrage at excessively high real estate assessments at a time when the real estate market was dropping, housing starts were the lowest they had been in years, the stock market was reeling, and hundreds of jobs had been lost in the Staunton-Waynesboro-Augusta County area.

At a February organizational meeting for Augusta Citizens Against Unfair Assessments, over 600 people turned out to hear from Churchville attorney Francis Chester and Supervisors Tracy Pyles who also felt the assessments were unfair. Mr. Chester collected over 10,000 signatures on petitions asking the county to roll back assessments to 2005 values.

On March 11, 2009, over 1,000 residents turned out to the Board of Supervisors meeting at the Government Center where 50 spoke out against the assessments. The board chose not to throw out the assessments and went for a 10-cent decrease in the rate, taking it from 58 cents to 48 cents per $100. While that helped ease the tax burden on some, many others were still strapped with assessments that were 30-500% increases over 2005. The value of land had skyrocketed so the more rural western area of Augusta was most affected.

As reported in Parade Magazine:

“Nationwide, we have properties that may be overassessed by as much as 60%,” says Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers Union, a watchdog group in Washington, D.C. Since those figures are based on studies conducted before the housing bubble burst, it’s likely that even more homeowners are paying too much property tax today. “Many localities are still charging taxes based on the housing-boom values of a few years ago,” Sepp explains.

On Tuesday night Francis Chester met with local residents at Memorial Baptist Church in Staunton. The townhall meeting of the Augusta Citizens Against Unfair Assessments was covered by WHSV TV-3 and NBC-29, Mr. Chester emphasized that he is pursuing the court case but from a different perspective.

WHSV TV-3 reported:

Attorney Francis Chester is changing his plans to try and overturn property assessments in Augusta County.

He says he is now going to focus on bringing the court a mass appeal from residents. Since all the appeals have the common theme of people believing the assessments are wrong, Chester says one mass appeal is the direction he wants to take.

He says if the courts had to hear each appeal individually, it would take years to resolve.

"Give the people their day in court. That's what I'm looking for. Every one of these people need their day in court," says Chester. "When we have a government in this county that is so hostile to the people, the court is there to bring justice and that's what we're hoping for."

NBC-29 reported:

The Churchville attorney leading a lawsuit against Augusta County's reassessment is changing the specifics of his fight but not backing down.

Tuesday night, Francis Chester met with about 60 members of the Augusta Citizens Against Unfair Assessments group.

Chester says he's asking the court to set aside the current suit and change the case to a mass appeal against the county's mass appraisal.

Nationwide, property owners are fighting back. Nowhere is that more true than right here in Augusta County.

Photos by SWAC Girl
Lynn Mitchell
June 2, 2009