BY REED WILLIAMS

Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

An appeal by

New Kent County residents are contesting their real estate tax levy in a legal move similar to a challenge in Accomack County. In both cases, the tax levy is based on a reassessment by the same company.

In Accomack, the appeal of the fiscal 2009 tax levy was filed on behalf of residents who claim that Tri-County Appraisals arbitrarily fixed land values for properties on Chincoteague Island without regard to size or recent property sales, among other factors.

The residents are asking that a judge order a reversion to the county's prior assessment and tax rate, said Mary Jester, a retired lawyer who is coordinating the effort.

William D. Coalson, a partner for Tri-County Appraisals, based in King William County, says the legal actions in New Kent and Accomack have no merit.

"Their concerns are based on higher taxes that the citizens do not want to pay -- that's all it boils down to," he said yesterday. "That wasn't 'arbitrary,' that was based on land value."

In New Kent, as in Accomack, residents presented a petition to their commonwealth's attorney, and his office filed an appeal in circuit court. State law requires chief prosecutors to file such an appeal when presented with a petition signed by at least 1 percent of a locality's registered voters.

The New Kent residents also are asking a judge to reverse the county's adoption of the most recent real estate tax levy.

Accomack's county attorney has contested the appeal in that county because it alleged errors in assessments of property in only a small portion of the county.

Yesterday, New Kent County Attorney Jeffrey M. Summers filed a reply to the New Kent appeal in Circuit Court, arguing that it alleges errors in the valuation of unspecified properties but does not claim that the tax levy itself is illegal, and therefore cannot successfully contest the levy.

Summers said this week that other than the cases in New Kent and Accomack, the only two other such cases he's aware of in Virginia date to 1950 and 1918.

"This seems to happen about every 30 or 50 years," he said.

Tri-County's Coalson said he suspects that the New Kent County Citizens Coalition, the group that initiated the appeal, did so only after learning of the one in Accomack.

George Slemp, chairman of the New Kent County Citizens Coalition, said that the group was aware of that possible legal avenue before they knew of Accomack's action.

"It was merely coincidental that they were doing something," Slemp said.

If a Circuit Court judge rules in favor of the residents who initiated the appeal, Summers said, "We'd have to basically replan the county budget."

A court hearing is set for July 21 to consider New Kent Commonwealth's Attorney C. Linwood Gregory's motion to withdraw as counsel of record. His motion says that the statute cited in the appeal is not the appropriate way to remedy what residents perceive as inaccurate reassessments.

Contact Reed Williams at rwilliams@timesdispatch.com