Spartanburg County property tax increase

Dear WPSA,

I am not sure if this issue should go under consumer watch or voice of the viewer but this issue impacts all Spartanburg County citizens. I think it’s a worthy news story.

I received my Spartanburg County property reassessment in the mail in late August 2008. I immediately noticed my property market value increased by $32,000 from 2007 to 2008. This was a 13.6% increase in market value of my house. This 13.6% increase equates to a 37.3% increase in my property tax bill (in one year) in a down economy where property values are dropping rapidly.

I submitted my informal appeal form to the Assessor’s office in early September 2008. In my appeal, I noted that I disagreed with the reassessed value of my house because property values are decreasing due to the poor economy we are currently experiencing.

About 3 weeks ago, the Spartanburg Herald Journal wrote an article stating 12,000+ Spartanburg County citizens appealed their property value reassessment. This is almost 10% of the population of Spartanburg County. Like me, the people of Spartanburg County have a major issue with the 2008 reassessment especially when the economy is recessionary and home values are depreciating.

Last week I received my 2008 Spartanburg County property tax notice. I immediately saw that my appraised value was still $32,000 higher than 2007 and was still the same as my reassessed value from August 2008. I did not understand why my appeal was not taken into consideration. I called the Assessor’s office to get the answer. I was told that because of the 12,000+ appeals that the Assessor’s office received, they were unable to reassess the counties property values before the 2008 tax notices were mailed out. I was told to pay the full 37.3% property tax increase by 1/15/08. I was also told my appeal would be reviewed and “IF” accepted the Assessor’s office would refund the difference between my home value opinion and the real estate appraised value. WHAT THE HELL!!! Does the Spartanburg County Assessor’s office think the tax paying citizens are idiots?! If I send them the full tax payment do I truly believe they will reimburse me for the difference? No!! Once they have our money they will not give it back!

Questions: Why could the Assessor’s office not reassess the values of the properties in Spartanburg County before the tax notices went out – they had 4 months? Isn’t that what we the citizens of Spartanburg pay them to do? Why was the Assessor’s office not prepared to handle the volume of appeals they received? Isn’t that their job?! How can property taxes increase when property values are decreasing in this economy?

The Assessor’s office should’ve had a clue that the citizens of Spartanburg County would not just accept this property tax hike. Could you please get me and all the other tax paying citizens of this county some answers?

Thanks for your help in advance.