Assessments for parcels of agricultural land of 100 acres or more went up an average of 57 percent.
ISLE OF WIGHT - An average 5.5 percent real estate assessment increase this year must have been easier for residents to swallow than the 41.7 percent increase from 2006.
About 500 people attended hearings or sent letters or e-mails or made phone calls about their assessments this year. Last time, it was at least twice that many, said Steve Wampler. He's president of the Wampler-Eanes Appraisal Group, the Roanoke-area firm that handled the assessments this year and in 2006. The county reassesses real estate every two years.
Wampler told the Isle of Wight County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that residents who appealed their property values will receive notices in July indicating whether the values changed.
Across the county, the biggest change in values was in farmland. Parcels of agricultural land of 100 acres or more went up an average of 57.1 percent. Agricultural parcels of less than 100 acres went up 40.7 percent.