This week, I interviewed Greenbrier County Assessor Joe Darnell about his role as the county’s assessor and how he serves the public.
What are the duties and responsibilities of the Greenbrier County Assessor’s Office?
The Greenbrier County Assessor’s Office assesses all real and some personal property fairly and equally for all citizens of Greenbrier County.
How long have you worked there?
Since 2008. I first won election in 2016 and recently was elected to another four-year term in 2020. I have thirteen employees here which includes the two mappers in the map room, four field appraisers, and the rest in the office, with two part-time employees.
What property is assessed?
Real and personal property are assessed at 60% of market value. For example, if a piece of land or house sold for $100,000, we assess it for tax purposes at $60,000. The biggest thing we look at is if it was a valid sale, as if through a lawyer, etc., then look at what was paid for a piece of property. We will also look at surrounding properties to determine fair value for all properties.
If it is a vehicle, we value those by the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) guide supplied by Charleston and we take the low book value and reduce it to 60%.
Tax rates vary on whether you live in a municipality or a district. Some areas in the county have higher tax rates than others. For example, Class II property, residential property in Alderson, Lewisburg and Ronceverte municipalities are the three highest tax rates due to excess municipality fees. It is considerably less to live outside of those three municipalities.
For example, White Sulphur Springs, Rupert, Fallings Springs, Rainelle and Quinwood do not have built-in excess municipal fees through a levy and their rates are lower.
Can you describe the online availability for the Greenbrier County Assessor’s Office?
Anyone can go to greenbriercounty.net and you can search taxpayers’ property and find out information about the property. The tax map and GIS are available at: map.greenbrierwv.cc. This site will allow users to explore any real property in Greenbrier County and view the parcel that is taxed. Users can see who owns the property, their address, and sale history.
What is a homestead exemption?
Homestead exemption is open to property owners who use their property as their primary place of residence. To qualify, you must be a resident of West Virginia for two calendar years and must live on the property for six consecutive months. It is available to people 65 or older or totally disabled through Social Security. You must use the property as your primary place of residence. Once approved, you do not have to apply again unless it is a mobile home sitting on someone else’s land. In that case, they turn in the mobile home on the assessment form each year due to not being a landowner.
The exemption takes $20,000 off of the assessed value of the property. On our prior example of a $100,000 property, it would reduce it down to $40,000. If someone’s property is valued at $20,000 or under, it completely eliminates their tax bill. I would encourage anyone who qualifies to apply. It is an annual savings of approximately $225 per year.
Can you explain the assessment form we receive each year?
The forms are mailed out around July 1st. It is a pre-printed form showing what vehicles were reported from the previous year. If nothing has changed, just sign the form at the bottom and return it. If there are changes, mark through any vehicles you no longer own and list your new ones. By returning the form, it allows you to be assessed on your personal property each year, otherwise, people would have to come into the office to be assessed. This is important for motor vehicle registration as well. Everything is based upon what you owed on July 1st and we go by the title date.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to call my office at: 304-647-6615, or email me at jdarnell@assessor.state.wv.us.
