The 2012 Data have been updated. The new values should reflect those that were used to generate 10% notices and reflect any changes to data that took place up to the beginning of the Board of Equalization and Review.

I apologize for not having put up the new 2012 data. It is my understanding that assessments were reduced "across the board" from their original 2012 values. I'll endeavor to get updated values on the site as soon as I can.

Please Note: Data on this site are presented for reference purposes only.
As always, you should obtain official copies of your review documents from the Assessor's office.

So, the Tax Department informed us that, in 2010, the Monongalia Assessor was doing a fine job (2010 Ratio Study - Page 10) and his median sales ratio was 59% (60% is optimal, less than 54% is failing). However, as you can see from the information on this web site, the Monongalia Assessor was not doing as well as reported and it took a review of detailed residential assessment data by the public to bring this to light, including a successfull FOIA lawsuit.

If this was happening in Monongalia County, what's to say it isn't happening in other counties in the state? Well, to find out, I filed FOIA requests with several county assessors across the state. Of the four requests, three were denied and one was not responded to. Interestingly, all of these assessors had released residential assessment data with identical information (just a different format) to that in my FOIA request to commercial companies who were repackaging the data and selling it to the public. It appears that the people we've delegated authority to have decided that it's not good for us to know what they are doing.

I don't know whether any of the assessor's I made requests to are or are not doing a good job. Recall, the state told us everything was peachy in Monongalia county. So, it is up to the public to figure it out and I intend to follow through.

The information that I'm asking for is not personal data, it's data associated with parcels of property that, when an owner sells, transfers to the new owner. The only personally identifiable information in the data are the name and address of the person(s) responsible for paying the taxes on the property.

The only justification, in my opinion, for not releasing the data is to protect individual assessors from public scrutiny.

In my opinion (and might I add the opinion of many WV assessors) the data is public record and subject to FOIA.

The opinion of those who refuse to release the data are the it is not public record and not subject to FOIA.

§29B-1-1. Declaration of policy.
Pursuant to the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of representative government which holds to the principle that government is the servant of the people, and not the master of them, it is hereby declared to be the public policy of the state of West Virginia that all persons are, unless otherwise expressly provided by law, entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those who represent them as public officials and employees. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. (emphasis added) The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments of government they have created. To that end, the provisions of this article shall be liberally construed with the view of carrying out the above declaration of public policy.

For a sense of how things got here, I've created a history page with historical media reporting on the Monongalia County Assessor's office.

If you are worried that your property assessment increase will present an undue financial burden on you and you qualify (age, income), you might qualify for property tax relief. I've put together a brief informational page that outlines who might qualify and provides links to the WV Code which presents the qualifying information and processes in more detail.

I've been getting a lot of feedback and hearing a lot of commentary on the radio with regards to the appraisal letters that property owners in Monongalia County.

Generally, if your appraisal went up by a factor of two, your assessment will go up by a factor of two, but your taxes won't necessarily go up by a factor of two.

The data on this site resulted from several FOIA requests. The 2005-2010 data were release with little issue but the 2011 data required filing suit with the Circuit Court which took over six months and resulted in the Assessor paying my court costs and having to release the data. Finally, the Assessor authorized the Tax Department to release of the 2012 data immediately after I filed the request.

Welcome stranger!

Those familiar with the way properties are assessed in West Virginia will likely get the ironic joke in that greeting, but do you - Joe Q. Public - get it? If you don't yet, that's alright, as this site is intended to help enlighten you to the mysterious world of property assessment and help ensure the "Welcome Stranger" joke isn't at your expense.

Welcome to MonFairAssessments.org - a free website connecting various pieces of publicly available information - a site highlighting issues with how the Monongalia County Assessor's Office currently violates the both the U.S. Constitution and W.Va. Constitution and State Code by unfairly and inequitably assessing citizens properties when they purchase or build a home.

How can you tell whether you're getting short shrift on your Monongalia County property taxes? With this site you can easily,

Data utilized to arrive at each property's assessment is summarized and the detailed Residential Review Documents for each tax year are presented for review.

My own story...

I became interested in my property assessments in 2007 when researching tax classification of rental properties in my neighborhood. It seemed odd that, the year after I purchased my property, there was a significant increase in its assessment. At the same time, assessments for neighboring properties experienced only a slight increase. I also noticed that the assessments for many of the properties in my neighborhood seemed to be significantly lower than I would guess based on their size and condition ... how could a 2000 square foot home on a half-acre plot in Morgantown be assessed for $48,000 (appraised value of $80,000) when 1500 square foot homes in the same neighborhood were going for $150-$200K?

I took the red pill!

What I found out and what you will conclude from data on this web site is what is near the bottom of the rabbit hole. However, I haven't reached the bottom yet.

Introduction

It is important to understand how properties are assessed and to ensure that they are being assessed accurately. Property owners are directly affected by the accuracy in assessing both their own property as it directly affects the amount of property taxes they must pay and in accuracy in assessing the property of others as these assessments impact the property tax levy rates used to determine their property taxes. Property owners may also be adversely affected by inaccurate property assessments through reduced funding for government services including police and fire protection and infrastructure since levying bodies are limited to maximum property tax levy rates by state law. Inaccurate assessments also impact state funding provided to the counties for education through the state school aid formula.

Residential properties in West Virginia are appraised by each county's assessor and the assessments used to determine property taxes are set at 60% of the property appraisal. In general, residential property appraisals in Monongalia County are grossly lower than their true and actual value as determined by the residential property market.

There are several objectives to this web site, the first of which is to educate property owners as to how the assessor determines the assessment for their property. This will allow property owners, especially those who purchased their property more recently, to understand the methodolgy employed to artifically increase their assessments. The second objective is to provide the detailed data entered by the assessor and used by the state provided computer-based Integrated Assessment System (IAS) to arrive at each property assessment. Erroneous data may be utilized by the IAS which may result in a property appraisal that is higher than the actual market value. The detailed data may also show that the assessor has manipulated subjective land and dwelling data to artificially inflate the property assessment while practicing sales-chasing.

Just the Facts

The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees equal protection of the laws to all citizens. "No State shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

Article X of the West Virginia Constitution requires that taxation be “equal and uniform” and property be taxed in proportion to its value. "Subject to the exceptions in this section contained, taxation shall be equal and uniform throughout the state, and all property, both real and personal, shall be taxed in proportion to its value to be ascertained as directed by law. No one species of property from which a tax may be collected shall be taxed higher than any other species of property of equal value"

West Virginia State Code §11-1C-9 provides a metric to measure the equality of assessment for a species of property. This metric is the ratio of the assessed value (60% of the appraised value) to the market value of that particular species of property. If this ratio is less than 0.6 the Tax Commissioner is responsible for directing the assessor responsible for assessing the species to make adjustments necessary to arrive at a ratio of 0.60 (median ratio of assessor's appraisals to market sale prices must be 1:1) and, upon failure of the assessor, to take steps to remedy the deficiency.

West Virginia State Code §11-3-1 requires that property be assessed at its true and actual value and that value be ascertained by the free market.

West Virginia State Code §11-1-2 requires the Tax Commissioner to see that laws concerning assessment of property are faithfully enforced and the responsibility to supervise county assessors and, in the case where an assessor fails to discharge his duties imposed upon him by law, to enforce penalties provided by law which include removing the assessor fom office.

West Virginia State Code §11-1-5 requires the Tax Commissioner to report misconduct or neglect of official duty by a county assessor to the circuit clerk and prosecuting attorney of that county and that court is required to investigate these charges. In the case the county assessor be convicted of charges of negligence or misconduct that he be removed from office.

The owner of this site is confident that the data presented are identical to that supplied by the WV Tax Department through a Freedom of Information Act request. However, the owner would insist that anyone expressing an interest in utilizing this data or information presented on this site for legal purposes obtain copies of Residential Review Documents from the Monongalia Assessor's office and review official documents referenced from the site.