Property assessments in Isle of Wight could decline about 2 percent next year, according to the Daily Press.

A recent report prepared for the Board of Assessors to help them get ready for the 2010 reassessments showed that 81 single-family homes in the county were sold during the first six months of 2009, and their average sales price was less than the countys assessed value on the properties. If that trent continues, then property owners could see reduced assessments in 2010.

A drop in home values doesn't mean tax bills will decline, too. Localities sometimes must increase a tax rate to offset the decline in property values, in order to maintain the same flow of income to fund expenses

Isle of Wight homeowners can expect to receive their 2010 reassessments in Apirl.

"Based on current sales trends, property assessments on houses could decline by about 2 percent next year, said Tom Finderson, chairman of the Isle of Wight Board of Assessors.

A sales study report prepared for the Board of Assessors, which is gearing up for its 2010 reassessment cycle, shows that 222 properties — including houses, vacant land, town homes, condominiums and commercial properties — exchanged hands between July 2008 and June 2009.

The report shows that 81 single-family homes in the county were sold during the first six months of this year, with the average sales price of $300,411 coming in somewhat less than the county's assessed value on the properties, Finderson said.

That could end up translating into reduced assessments for property owners, if the current sales trend continues over the next few months, Finderson said.

'It appears that we are seeing a stabilization of reassessments compared to years past, when it was climbing at double-digit rates,' said Commissioner of the Revenue Gerald H. Gwaltney. The county's reassessments in 2008 and 2006 jumped 11 and 45 percent, respectively."

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