Manassas to refund some personal property taxes, send new bills

They will also have about 20 more days to pay, with taxes now due Monday, October 26. The City Council unanimously approved the reduction and payment extension during its meeting Monday, September 12.

Residents who own vehicles will receive a revised tax bill with the 15% decrease reflected, and those who have paid their personal property bill will receive a credit on their account. After October 26, they will receive a refund.

If the credit on the account is less than $5, the resident can either leave the credit in their account to be applied to the 2023 bill or contact the treasurer’s office for a refund. Tax payments can be made online or by visiting the city’s customer service center at 9800 Godwin Drive between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.

The rate reduction will mean about $2 million fewer dollars for the city in the coming year. State law prohibits the city from lowering the tax rate after

The reduction and extension come as residents received eye-popping tax bills last month. City leaders said tax bills increased by more than 20 percent over last year. A decrease in new cars sold over the past year has led to people holding on to their older cars, and the older cars — for the first time in history — increasing in value.

During budget deliberations last spring, the City Council lowered the Real Estate tax rate by three cents, or about $1.8 million, to help offset the higher vehicle tax.

Manassas Commissioner of the Revenue Tim Demeria (D), the city’s property assessor, voiced opposition to lowering the assessment values like neighboring Prince William County, which assessed vehicles at only 80% of fair market value.

“Once you do that,  you’re no longer taxing on fair market value,” Dimeria said Monday.

Manassas was the only jurisdiction in the region that anticipated higher than regular personal property assessments but didn’t alter the assessment method.

“We knew that assessments were going to be high, the end up being higher than assessed. Residents are going through 40-year high inflation; spending is out of control; I saw this coming. I voted no against this. Now here we are with limitations on what we can do, and I’m upset our hands are hands tied,” said Manassas Councilwoman Theresa Ellis. “The real estate tax is down only three cents, and that only affects homeowners. Renters sure got hit hard with this one.”

Demeria snapped back at Ellis, one of two Republicans on the eight-member Council. He reminded Ellis that he suggested the Council adopts a lower personal property rate, $2.95 of $100 of assessed value, instead of $3.60, and said there are archived video recordings of the discussion on the city’s website for residents to watch.

“I told you values would go up 20%, and when Ms. Sebesky asked, ‘does anyone have a problem with $3.60,’ you did not. Nobody else did,” said Dimeria, a constitutionally elected official who does not report to the City Council in the same manner as local government employees.

Ellis and Lynn Forkell Greene, also a Republican, were the two dissenting votes against the $405 million budget, which has increased 13 percent since 2019. Residential tax bills have also increased every year for the past five years.

“Yes, I did vote no. No matter what the rate or assessment was, it wasn’t good enough,” Ellis responded.

The City Council voted on the matter near the beginning of the meeting. Meanwhile, several residents who were furious at the tax bills — some topping more than $1,200 for vehicles more than six years old — lined up to speak to the Council and were forced to wait until the end of the session to voice their concerns.

Ryan Steinbach, a 14-year city resident, chastised the seven council members for not doing more during budget deliberations in March to address the high tax bills. “None of you asked questions. There was no debate. There were no questions about what should be done,” said Steinbach.

Another who spoke said he’s had to take out loans to pay his family’s ever-increasing tax bills in the wake of record-high inflation. He’s being forced out of the city his family has called home for over 30 years due to increased taxes, he added.