D.C. CFO Natwar Gandhi. Photo by DCCA.The District stands to lose $48 million in property-tax revenue this year after more than 500 developments were overvalued by the city’s appraisers and had to be reassessed, The Washington Post reports in a big investigative scoop. In some cases, properties owned by the city’s biggest developers were devalued by as much as half after owners pressed their case to the tax appeals board.
The tax appeals board is independent, but the appraisers work for District CFO Natwar Gandhi, who the Post reports is sharply critical of reductions in tax assessments. Property tax accounts for 30 percent of the District’s annual revenue, and the property mentioned in the Post’s investigation accounts for just two percent of the city’s $246 billion tax base.
Gallery Place, built by Herb Miller and John E. “Chip” Akridge III, for instance, had $58 million knocked off its taxable value.
Still, tax appeals are secretive processes. The Post analyzed 40 instances of developers asking the board to adjust assessments downward, and found that supervisors with the power to make significant adjustments to property values with minimal explanation. In 75 percent of those cases, the settled values were much closer to what developers wanted.
“They’re just giving it away,” said one veteran city appraiser who for fear of termination declined to be identified. “It’s demoralizing because we are doing our jobs and then they change our assessments. Values are being undercut so much.”
The appraiser said tax office supervisors last month warned staff members that they would lose their jobs if they talked to the media. Tax office officials say all media inquiries must go through proper channels, and they said they were not aware that any appraisers had been threatened with termination.
The Post also found that the city’s recently hired chief appraiser, Tony L. George, wants his employees to settle all matters “within reason.” And top tax officials say the $2.8 billion in adjustments is typical, though the Post’s numbers say far differently.
Last month, the District government completely rebuilt the tax appeals board, requiring the chairperson to have at least five years’ experience as a property appraiser and the vice-chair to be an attorney. It’s unclear if George fits either of those criteria; the Post requested to have a look at his résumé, but was rebuffed. Gandhi says he was recruited by a head-hunting firm, and George’s former colleagues in Fulton County, Ga. weren’t even aware he was working in the District now.
