
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 2, 1993                   TAG: 9310020293
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT                                LENGTH: Medium

OWNER CALLS TAX RATE OUT OF BOUNDS

If the quality of golf courses in the region is determined by their tax assessments, Franklin County must be the St. Andrews of Southwest and Southside Virginia.

Ron Willard, owner of the Waterfront and Water's Edge country club developments, filed a court challenge against Franklin County's assessments of $100,000 per hole on his two courses. Two weeks ago, a judge agreed with Willard that the assessments were too high and reduced them to $75,000 per hole.

Willard still isn't happy. He thinks the $75,000 should have been dropped all the way to $25,000 - the average per-hole assessment of golf courses from Lynchburg to Roanoke to Martinsville.

"The law says `uniformity,' " Willard said. "It doesn't say, `Charge more because it's a better course.' "

The court ruling, which also lowered the per-acre assessment from $5,000 to $3,000 on Willard's golf courses, has reduced Franklin County's taxable real estate by $1.3 million, which means a loss of $7,800 per year in revenue. Needless to say, Ben Pinckard, the county's commissioner of revenue, is not pleased.

Pinckard points out that the Waterfront advertises itself as a championship golf course. And the Water's Edge was named the third-best golf course in Virginia by Golf Digest magazine. Pinckard pulls out Willard's own advertisement to prove it.

The bible of appraisers everywhere - the Marshall and Swift appraisal manual - suggests championship golf courses should be valued at between $92,000 and $126,000 per hole.

Willard compiled the chart comparing golf course assessments throughout the region and presented it as part of the trial. Pinckard says the chart proves nothing - except maybe other localities should re-examine their assessments.

But John Birckhead, director of reassessment in Roanoke County, said he is comfortable with the assessments of the county's exclusive clubs, such as Hunting Hills.

"In all the years I've been assessing, I've never tried to look at the other localities' assessments," Birckhead said.

"I guess if we had one of those clubs sell, that would really be the test to see who's right."

Memo: ***CORRECTION***

by CNB