Nov. 8, 2007 – File an appeal with the Board of Tax Review when the tax bills that reflect the recent property revaluation come out, St. Croix attorney James Derr advised St. John residents gathered Thursday to discuss what they're going to do about what many perceive as excessive revaluations of their properties.
"It could be years before anything is done. If everybody filed an appeal, it would clog the system," Derr said.
He said property owners who file appeals must pay taxes but only the same amount listed on their previous tax bill until the appeal is decided.
More than 50 people attended the meeting of the St. John Unity Day Group held at Nazareth Lutheran Church Hall.
In 2000 Derr represented St. Thomas resident Gary Berne, who owned commercial property, in the U.S. District Court case that essentially forced the local government to assess commercial and residential property the same. This resulted in the recent revaluation of all real estate in the territory.
He said he's uncovered "very serious" problems with the revaluations.
"Apparently the data gathers didn't do their jobs well," he said, adding that they only received about two days training and it appears that in some cases they didn't even look at the homes.
Derr said in one St. Thomas case, land valued at $18 million in 2005 was revalued at $230,000.
Derr said he does not believe that the 2006 tax bills expected to go out at the end of November will reflect the revaluations because the government hasn't finished all the work that needs to be done on the revaluation process.
The Unity Day Group took up the issue of the property tax revaluation a couple of months ago. It is currently gathering information and developing a consensus on how it will approach the problem.
St. John resident Myrtle Barry, who serves as head of the Unity Day Group's property tax committee, said the group sent a letter to Gov. John deJongh Jr., Lt. Gov. Gregory Francis and tax assessor Roy Martin requesting statistical information on the property tax revaluations.
"The system is flawed and it's had all kinds of side effects," Barry said.
Barry said that should the matter go to court, it was necessary to send the letter by Oct. 31. Martin has said that was the last date residents could ask for a second revaluation if they thought the original one was flawed.
St. John resident Lorelei Monsanto said that she does not want a separate tax structure for St. John, but rather that all islands are treated the same when it comes to setting the tax rate. Suggestions have been made that St. John have a different tax rate because its property valuations came in so high that some residents worry they'll be forced out of their homes.
"It's an injustice for St. John," she said.
St. John resident Bill Morris said the problem began with the fact there weren't enough sales on St. John to make the revaluations statistically valid.
"They have very little data to put in the meat grinder," he said.
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