Information about the Assessor's Office
The Assessor and his deputies
are directed by West Virginia Constitution, Article X,
Section I, to determine the value of all real and
personal property at fair market value for each tax year.
The specific duties of the Assessor are to discover,
list, and value all Real and Personal property within the
boundaries of the county on an annual basis. All
valuation work must occur on a fiscal year basis
commencing on the first day of July. On June 30th
of the following year, the collection year ends and the
books close.
Your assessor does not set
your property tax. Your tax bill is
determined by multiplying a tax rate against your
assessed value (60% of market value). Remember that
the assessor determines your assessed value, and the
legislature (for the board of education), the county
commission, and the municipalities determine the levy
rate. Levy rate information is prepared for your
convenience and may be obtained in the Assessor’s
office.
The position that the Assessor’s
office occupies in relation to the taxes collected is one
of providing a value to each levying body. Once
this is completed, the levying bodies, i.e. county school
board, county commission, etc., approve their levies.
It is at this point in the process that taxes are
determined. Levy rates may rise or fall depending
on the amount of funding that each levying body requires
but are regulated by constitutional provisions.
The property tax
process has three major components:
1.
ASSESSOR- establishes a fair market value for all
real and personal property and communicates it to the
levying bodies.
2.
LEVYING BODIES- i.e. West Virginia Legislature,
Board of Education, Town and City Councils, Parks &
Recreation, Library and Mass Transit all provide the
components that make up the total levy rate applied to
the values.
3.
SHERIFF- mails all statements, collects all money
except for dog taxes, and disperses to each levying body
its portion of the total levy.
Seventy-two percent of all
property taxes collected go to support the public school
system. The remainder of the taxes collected are
shared by the Cities, Towns and State of West Virginia.
The following shows the relative percentage each levying
body receives annually:
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