WASHINGTON — Arlington County mailed out 2018 property tax assessments Saturday, and despite a rise in residential assessments, the county said overall property tax collections this year will present a budget challenge.
Residential properties recorded what Arlington County calls a “solid” 3.8 percent increase, up from a 2.5 percent increase in 2017.
The value of the average home in Arlington County, including condos, town houses and single-family homes is now $640,900, up from $617,200 last year.
But combined with other property categories in the county, including hotels, retail, apartments and office space, the overall increase in assessed property values rose just 1.9 percent, compared to 3.0 percent in 2017.
Vacant office properties pulled overall values down.
“We have some challenging budget decisions in the months ahead, given that our overall property values did not grow as much as projected,” said Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz.
Most commercial property values rose. Existing apartment values increased by 4.1 percent. General commercial property values rose 2.7 percent. Hotels increased 1.0 percent.
Office properties, which represent 17.6 percent of Arlington County’s total property tax base, saw significant declines, falling 6.9 percent from 2017. The county said the decrease was driven by office vacancies and landlord rent concessions.
Last fall, Arlington County projected a 3.2 percent increase in the value of all properties, compared to the actual 1.9 percent increase. The county said it will face a greater shortfall in developing a balanced budget for fiscal year 2019, which starts July 1.
Arlington County said it is also facing rising costs for social services, increases in enrollment at Arlington Public Schools and rising debt service costs.
The Arlington County Manager and Arlington Public Schools present budgets to the County Board and School Board in late February.
Arlington County homeowners and businesses can look up their property’s new assessments at the county’s website.