THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, March 2, 1995                TAG: 9503020483
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                     LENGTH: Short :   31 lines

ASSESSMENTS OF MANY PROPERTIES AT BEACH TO RISE

Tax assessments were mailed out Tuesday to city property owners, about half of whom will receive slightly higher bills this year.

Forty-eight percent of Beach property owners will see an increase in their tax bills, 12 percent will see a reduction, and 40 percent are expected to see no change at all, according to Jerald D. Banagan, the city's real estate assessor.

The average residential bill will go up 1.72 percent, and the average commercial bill will rise 3.3 percent, he said.

Those increases are good news to the city, which has seen declines or only slight increases in assessments since 1992, Banagan said. The rate of growth has been fairly steady since then, ranging from 1.3 percent to 1.5 percent annually, according to a report Banagan presented to the City Council Tuesday.

The higher assessments mean the city will take in more money this year without increasing personal property taxes, he said.

Last year, property taxes raised $1.69 million. This year, he estimated, they will bring in $1.74 million. by CNB