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It’s going to take a bit longer than expected for Prince Edward County to finish its real estate reassessment. The group handling the project, Wampler-Eanes Appraisal Group, informed county supervisors of the delay during the group’s Thursday, Nov. 7 meeting. 

All of the field work has been finished, with data collected from more than 14,000 land parcels in the county. Workers from Wampler-Eanes are also wrapping up their work with commercial properties and building permits. As for entering the data? They’re only at 56%, with more than 300 building permits also needing to be entered. 

“They are pretty far behind on the data entry and the reason for that is the spouse of one of their key personnel who does data entry passed away,” said Prince Edward Assistant County Administrator Sara Puckett. “She and her husband were citizens of Prince Edward County and it put them very far behind this fall.” 

 The company has brought in more workers to take on the workload, but it’s not going to be enough for them to meet the December deadline. As a result, Prince Edward County has to ask the circuit court for an extension. It’s not a big concern, as the Virginia Code has this part programmed in. In Section 58.1-3257, it allows for up to a three-month extension request. 

One benefit to the extension, Puckett pointed out, is that the changed schedule means any appeals would take place after the first of the year, rather than residents having to deal with them during the holidays. 

New timeline for Prince Edward County

So when will Prince Edward County residents get their reassessment notices? Under the new timeline, that’ll take place by the end of December. Then residents can go over the data after the holidays and file any necessary appeals of the reassessed value in January. Appeals will now be reviewed during the weeks of Jan. 13, 2015 and Jan. 20, 2025. In-person hearings will take place from Jan. 13 through Jan. 17, with Zoom and phone hearings happening Jan. 20 through Jan. 24, 205. 

After those appeals take place, once everything gets processed and changes are made, the revised notices should go out within a four week period. 

And while we don’t have complete data available from the reassessment yet, both a statement from Wampler Eanes and comments from county staff indicate what residents should expect. 

“Sales continue to show a strong appreciation of property values over the last reassessment,” Wampler Eanes staff said in a statement. “Our studies indicate that the real estate market in Prince Edward County reflects the overall market that we are seeing in Virginia.” 

Puckett meanwhile told supervisors during their Thursday meeting that county residents should expect values to climb. 

“We will probably be expecting, I don’t want to use the word significant, but certainly an increase in values based on what surrounding counties are seeing,” Puckett said. 

The board of supervisors unanimously voted to give the county attorney authorization to request the three month extension, which is normally automatically granted. If that timeline is approved, then the reassessment should be finished by March 31, 2025, in time to factor the higher property values in budget discussions.