Showing posts with label Local government. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Local government. Show all posts

Monday, October 23, 2017

Are Gloucester County’s Real Estate Tax Assessments Corrupt? You Decide

During a recent Gloucester Board of Supervisor and School Board candidate forum, York District Candidate Kevin Farmer expressed concerns about real estate tax rates and real estate tax assessments. § 58.1-3201 of the Code of Virginia requires all property to be assessed at 100% of fair market value. If that is the case, why does Gloucester County seem to adjust the values of property based on the amount of money needed to run our local government? I have been asking that question ever since Gloucester County Assistant Administrator Garrey Curry explained such to me about three years ago. When Mr. Curry rendered his explanation to me and another citizen, I told him under the method he described, one key element is left out of the equation; fair market value of the property.

During the candidate forum, current board members mocked at Mr. Farmer’s assertion that increases in certain real estate assessment values is how they have avoided increasing real estate tax rates each year. In Mr. Farmer’s defense, the County, through certain assessment value increases, increased revenue from real estate property taxes by $3 million since 2012.

I became even more skeptical of Gloucester’s assessments in 2016 when the Board of Supervisors approved a land swap deal with Gloucester resident Charles Kerns, Jr.; in which the County traded two pieces of property for one of Mr. Kerns’ properties. When the deal was first presented to the Board of Supervisors, then Chairperson John Meyer publicly asked, “Is the concept of swapping properties the way the County wants to do business?” He then said, “Sounds like it has the potential for a win win.” As it turns out, Supervisor Meyer had a stake in the land swap deal, in that the entrance to his personal estate shares a property line with the piece of land Mr. Kerns traded to the County.

During that time, I was an appointed At-Large member of the Gloucester Public Utilities Advisory Committee. Once I reviewed the seven properties contained in the land swap proposal, I discovered serious flaws in the assessment values of the three key properties contained in the deal. I pointed the flaws out to the Board and an independent appraiser was hired by the County to determine the value of the properties.

When the Board approved the land swap deal, their decision was based on the independent appraisal values. The combined value of the County’s two properties at that time was $35,000 and Mr. Kerns’ property was valued at $45,000. The combined assessment values of the County’s two former properties after the deal changed to $70,180 and the value of Mr. Kerns' former property changed to $41,780. At the time the deal was approved, Mr. Kerns’ property was determined to be worth $10,000 more than the property he received from the County. Within days of the deal being made, the property Mr. Kerns received from the County was assessed by the County to be worth $28,400 more than the property he unloaded on the County. Not wanting to be associated with corruption, I resigned from the Utilities Advisory Committee immediately after the Board approved the corrupt land swap deal.

The land swap deal story did not end there. Three months after the Board approved the deal, the Gloucester Mathews Gazette Journal listed one of Mr. Kerns new properties as being sold for $55,000. According to online property records; Mr. Kerns sold it to the property owner who has lived right next door to the property since 1998. Why didn’t the Board offer the property to the adjacent landowners before trading it to Mr. Kerns? Even Mr. Kerns’ offered to sell his property to Supervisor Meyer before offering it to the County. Something tells me the new owner would have preferred to buy the property for the $30,000 independent appraisal value; saving $25,000.

One can’t help but wonder if the whole corrupt land swap deal was perpetrated to keep anything from being built at the entrance to Supervisors Meyer’s and Mr. Kerns’ estates. One can easily assume the recent paving of the entrance of Summerville Road to the end of Mr. Meyer’s property line was funded with money from the land sold by Mr. Kerns. One could also easily assume this was done to move the entrance to Mr. Meyer’s estate so it is easier to find by his Airbnb customers. Despite whether or not these assumptions are correct, one fact remains; manipulation of the assessment values is clearly evident and is nothing short of government corruption. This deal needs to be investigated and those found guilty of corruption and conspiracy to commit corruption need to be held accountable.

Below we have provided a listing of randomly selected waterfront properties in four different areas of Gloucester County. Notice how the smaller the property is, the higher the assessed value per acre is. We have also provided a Slideshare presentation of Frequently Asked Questions about real estate tax assessments. 

Email comments to: Kennysr61@gmail.com
To read a detailed account of the corrupt land swap deal click on this link: http://www.gloucestercounty-va.com/2017/03/gloucester-county-va-real-estate-tax_50.html 


Waterfront Property Heywood Creek Area

RPC                Acres             Assessed                  Per Acre

34244             1.39               $209,110                  $150,439

13952            1.46               $260,770                  $178,609

30791            1.48               $208,560                  $140,919

43160            1.51               $145,940                  $96,649

26229            2.53               $222,950                  $88,123

10669            2.67               $243,790                  $91,307

30679            3.43               $280,310                  $81,723

13369            9.33               $364,960                  $39,117

33757            12.6               $404,020                  $32,065

31355            170.476        $636,730                  $3,735

Bena Area

RPC                Acres             Assessed                  Per Acre

28739            1                     $225,000                  $225,000

21922            1.25               $233,200                  $186,560

19725            2.88               $201,090                  $78,955

27404            5.25               $296,720                  $56,254

40850            6.39               $342,070                  $53,532

27619            6.46               $817,360                  $126,526

21425            9.3                  $365,060                  $39,254

21951            13.11             $402,110                  $30,672

41567            13.54             $346,810                  $25,540

14341            58.35             $1,190,730              $20,406

Ware Neck Area

RPC                Acres             Assessed                  Per Acre

16800            0.75               $211,490                  $281,987

21047            0.96               $222,850                  $232,135

22199            1.44               $256,780                  $178,319

16984            1.88               $239,750                  $127,527

10396            2.01               $233,520                  $116,179

23437            2.36               $236,480                  $117,652

22617            5.02               $340,480                  $67,825

43034            6.9                  $417,910                  $60,567

18864            7.39               $209,550                  $28,356

31023            342.57          $1,510,140              $4,408

Gloucester Point Area

RPC                Acres             Assessed                  Per Acre

34254            0.296             $131,440                  $444,054

29005            0.361             $145,470                  $402,963

30469            0.52               $178,910                  $344,058

18220            0.6                  $189,900                  $316,500

12063            0.93               $221,220                  $237,871

30104            1.23               $258,690                  $210,317

29202            1.49               $263,000                  $176,510

33908            2.49               $482,670                  $193,843

15105            3.58               $246,770                  $68,930

22581            17.49             $534,910                  $30,584

Slideshare presentation of frequently asked question about real estate tax assessments. (Compiled by Albemarle County, Virginia)

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Gloucester County Supervisor’s Trees Destroyed By Tree Trimmers

I never cease to be amazed at the things that happen in this county. The following entry is contained in the Gloucester County, Virginia Utilities Department June report:

“Resolved the complaint from adjacent property owner that tree removal for replacement of Pump Station #12 with Smith & Loveless package station  encroached on their property by requiring the contractor plant replacement trees to satisfy property owner;”

I’ll be damned!! After obtaining way more land than needed, in what I and others consider nothing short of a public corruption property deal, they encroach upon the adjacent property owner’s land to make room to install a new sewer pump system.

As many of you may know; I served on the Gloucester County Public Utilities Advisory Committee for a couple of years or so. I resigned from the committee in 2016 after the committee and the Board of Supervisors approved what I and others strongly believe was a public corruption land deal between Gloucester resident Charles Kerns, Jr. and the Utilities Department. We consider the deal to be public corruption primarly because it appears evident the Gloucester County tax assessor or another person or persons with access, lowered the assessed value of Utilities Department properties and increased the assessed value of Mr. Kern’s property. Click here to read the Gloucester County public corruption land deal story: http://www.gloucestercounty-va.com/2017/03/gloucester-county-va-real-estate-tax_50.html

At-Large Supervisor John Meyer, who is also the owner of the destroyed trees, had this to say in response to an email I sent to the Board of Supervisors about the tree debacle.
.
“No less amazed than I.  The professional tree service 1) did not know where the property line was and 2) allowed the large trees they were cutting to fall across the property line, wiping out a half-dozen smaller trees in the process.
The County did hold the tree-service responsible and they did replace the trees (six-footers) at no additional cost to the County.
Next time you head down Belroi, take a look at the way Dominion Power mangled the trees between the 1st entrance to Courthouse Square and the Summerville Apartments.  Somebody on their payroll doesn’t like trees!
John”

Proper communication with the tree company and supervision of the trimming by the Utilities Department would have likely prevented the destruction of Mr. Meyer’s trees. As for Mr. Meyer’s complaint about the appearance of trees on Belroi Rd; well I guess now that it has happened on the road to his estate he can see something that has been the norm for decades. First, it is far cheaper to trim trees than to completely remove them. Second, if Dominion hated trees as Mr. Meyer suggests, they would find a way to cut all of them down instead of just trimming them. Maybe the Board of Supervisors can drum up another corrupt crony capitalism deal to get the power lines buried down Belroi Rd. Then the trees Dominion Power chopped up can grow out again, so VDOT can come along and chop them up again. Isn’t it just awful living in an aesthetically imperfect world? But then again; in a free society no individual or class of individuals has the right to determine what should or should not be considered visually appealing to other people; not even the elected class.   

Kenny Hogge, Sr.
Gloucester Point
Kennysr61@gmail.com

Crony Capitalism
BusinessDictionary.com defines crony capitalism as; an economy that is nominally free-market, but allows for preferential regulation and other favorable government intervention based on personal relationships. In such a system, the false appearance of "pure" capitalism is publicly maintained to preserve the exclusive influence of well-connected individuals.
Sound familiar??

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Gloucester County Employee Resigns After Exposure To Carbon Monoxide

When I served on the Gloucester County Public Utilities Advisory Committee, one of the areas I found to be unacceptable was our Utilities Department’s workplace safety program, or literal lack thereof. Insuring that our employees are properly trained on workplace safety and making sure they religiously follow applicable rules, regulations and procedures established to protect their health and life should always be at the top of operational priorities. This is especially true for operations involving confined spaces in sewer pump stations and manholes due to the extremely high probability that they contain at least one of numerous deadly gases.

The Gloucester Department of Public Utilities' May report contains the following entry:

“filed incident report for Mr. Jackson’s exposure to elevated CO levels in the wet well of PS #11 on May 5th;”

After reading the entry I sent an email containing my concerns to the Board of Supervisors, the County Administrator and the Director of Utilities which resulted in an email conversation with the director. After that conversation I continue to believe there is still need for improvement and believe you will too after reading the email conversation that can be found below. Mr. Jackson resigned from the Utilities Department a few weeks after the incident.

Kenny Hogge, Sr.
Gloucester Point
Kennysr61@gmail.com

Email Conversation   
From: Kenny  
Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2017 12:49 PM
To: Board of Supervisors <BOS@gloucesterva.info>; Fedors, Brent <bfedors@gloucesterva.info>; Dawson, James C. <jdawson@gloucesterva.info>
Subject: Carbon Monoxide Exposure Incident
 
Greetings,
 
The May 2017 Utility Department monthly report contains the following comment: filed incident report for Mr. Jackson’s exposure to elevated CO levels in the wet well of PS #11 on May 5th;
 
This is a very concerning, dangerous and preventable incident. Was air quality testing performed before and during Mr. Jackson’s entry into the wet well? Was ventilation performed before and during his entry? Was Mr. Jackson connected to an appropriate retrieval system? What was the source of the carbon monoxide?
 
Respectfully,
Kenneth E. Hogge, Sr.

From: "Dawson, James C." <jdawson@gloucesterva.info>
To: Kenny; Board of Supervisors <BOS@gloucesterva.info>; "Fedors, Brent" <bfedors@gloucesterva.info
Cc: "Curry, Garrey, Jr." <GCurry@gloucesterva.info>
Sent: Wednesday, July 5, 2017 1:26 PM
Subject: RE: Carbon Monoxide Exposure Incident

Mr. Hogge,
 
Thank you for your inquiry.
 
Air quality in the wet well was sampled before entry in compliance with OSHA regulations and the results are documented on the Confined Space Entry Permit for that space entry. The wet well vent fan was operating and Mr. Jackson was wearing a properly calibrated “sniffer” while he was working in the wet well. Mr. Jackson was connected to a retrieval system.
 
Mr. Jackson was pulling rags off the bar screen when the “sniffer” he was wearing alarmed for carbon monoxide (CO). He immediately began to exit the wet well. The alarm cleared before he could exit the wet well but he waited a few minutes to see if the alarm returned before resuming his pulling rags.
 
There were no known sources of CO in operation while Mr. Jackson was working in the wet well so we believe the CO came from the accumulation of rags on the bar screen which were last pulled on May 1st.
 
Mr. Jackson reported some discomfort shortly after completing the work at PS #11 on May 5th so we filed the incident report and offered to send him to a doctor on our Workers Compensation Panel of Physicians.
 
James C. Dawson, P.E.
Director, Dept. of Public Utilities

On Jul 7, 2017, at 9:02 PM, Kenny wrote:
Chris,
 
Thank you for the timely and detailed response. It is refreshing to hear that at least some OSHA confined space entry procedures are being practiced. However, your response seems to suggest Mr. Jackson may not have fully exited the wet well once the alarm sounded and that other OSHA requirements for an atmospheric alarm during an entry may not have been followed.  
 
According to OSHA regulations; if a hazardous atmosphere is detected during a confined space entry, all employees are supposed to leave the space immediately, the space is supposed to be evaluated to determine how the hazardous atmosphere developed and measures are supposed to be implemented to protect employees from the hazardous atmosphere before anyone is permitted to reenter the space.
 
Nothing in OSHA confined space requirements or guidance provides any latitude at all for any employee to unilaterally disregard an atmospheric alarm and to ignore prescribed and proven safety measures.
 
Utilization of only an exhaust fan to clear the air in wet wells and manholes is problematic to say the least. When air is drawn out of a confined space, much of the area within the space lacks circulation. Inadequate air circulation severely limits the effective removal of contaminated atmospheres within the space. When using only an exhaust fan, clean air is typically only drawn in at the hatch opening and the lethal pockets and layers of bad air outside of the confined flow path between the hatch and the exhaust fan will be left in the confined space.
 
Forced air blowers providing the proper CFM of clean air through a properly configured duct system are far safer than utilizing only exhaust fans because clean air is being forced into the space. When clean air is forced into the space it creates adequate circulation and dilutes the atmospheres, resulting in harmful gases being expelled more completely and efficiently. Utilizing a blower or combination blower and exhaust fan, instead of just an exhaust fan, will also allow the flow of clean air to be directed to best cover the area in the space where the employee will be working; therefore better protecting the employee.    
 
In your response you made it a point of stating a properly calibrated detector was used. I can’t help but wonder, by its exclusion from your response, if the detector used by Mr. Jackson was bump tested prior to being used that day. As I am sure you know, daily bump testing is not addressed in OSHA confined space entry requirements, but is highly recommended by most if not all reputable detector manufacturers. Taking a few minutes to verify a detector is working the way it is supposed to before beginning to use it each day is a small price to pay to prevent injury or death.  
 
Depending on the model, body worn detectors can certainly have their benefits in certain confined spaces, but based on personal experiences, I recommend against relying solely on body worn detectors to keep employees safe when working in active wet wells and manholes. I also recommend increased training for at least those employees designated to enter, supervise and attend confined spaces.
 
Respectfully,
Kenny Hogge, Sr.

Message body

Saturday, May 27, 2017

UPDATE: Rumors Turn Into Guilty Plea (Rumors Of Theft In Gloucester County Public School System)

 


Last May we published an update to the story below about “rumors” of theft within the Gloucester County Public School System (GCPS); in which we reported information contained in the May 17, 2018 edition of the Gloucester Mathews Gazette Journal.

According to the Gazette’s local court case information, “Larry Clark Lawson, 56, 668 Fickle Fen Road, Mathews, was indicted on two felony counts of wrongfully and fraudulently use, dispose of, conceal, or embezzle property having a value of $200 or more, belonging to Gloucester County, March23-April 19, 2017”

The property has been reported to be two welders owned by GCPS and the theft appears to have been initially covered up by Mr. Lawson’s supervisor who retired shortly after the indictments.

We have just learned from public records that Larry C. Lawson pleaded guilty to one of two counts of embezzlement on January 4, 2019. The public records indicate the next hearing is set for April 23, 2019 for Presentence Report. Once someone is convicted of a felony in Virginia, the judge will order a Presentence Report. Presentence Reports are prepared by a probation officer and include various family, background and employment information about the defendant. Sentencing should follow soon thereafter.

Unfortunately, it appears Mr. Lawson and his supervisor will continue to receive Virginia retirement pay and benefits. Shouldn’t Mr. Lawson have been fired when the thefts were discovered instead of being told to bring the property back and directed to retire? Shouldn’t he and his supervisor forfeit all pay and benefits and be forever barred from any form of government service? We think so.

We will continue to follow this story and keep you updated. As always, feel free to contact us with instances of public corruption in our local government and public-school system.

Kenny Hogge, Sr.
02/28/2019 


One year ago we published the story below about “rumors” of theft within the Gloucester County Public School System (GCPS). According to the May 17th edition of the Gloucester Mathews Gazette Journal; “Larry Clark Lawson, 56, 668 Fickle Fen Road, Mathews, was indicted on two felony counts of wrongfully and fraudulently use, dispose of, conceal, or embezzle property having a value of $200 or more, belonging to Gloucester County, March23-April 19, 2017”

In the same edition of the Gazette Journal there is an article about the retirement of Mr. Lawson’s supervisor, who according to the “rumors”, told Mr. Lawson to return the property and submit his resignation/retirement. If this part of the rumors is true, shouldn’t the supervisor be indicted also?

We will continue to follow this story and keep you updated.



Rumors Of Theft In Gloucester County Public School System
Several days ago we heard a “rumor” about a welder being stolen from the Gloucester County Public School (GCPS) Bus Garage. According to the “rumor”; someone working for our public school system stole a plasma welder from the bus garage and once the theft became known, the thief was told by administration to bring the welder back, submit their resignation and no charges would be filed. The “rumor” further alleges that the employee has enough time in local government service to retire and the “resignation” has actually turned into retirement for the thief.

That is a very ugly rumor and appears, “if” true, to be another prime example of our laws being applied selectively. If you or I walked into the bus garage and walked out with a screwdriver, law enforcement would be called; we would be arrested and prosecuted. End of Story. The same should happen to this thief if the “rumor” is true and they should forfeit their retirement benefits. Search warrants should also be executed on all of the thief’s properties to make sure they haven’t stolen other property owned by us. 

We sent an email to GCPS Superintendent, Dr. Walter Clemons, asking if he could confirm whether or not the “rumor” is true. Dr. Clemons replied, “I am unable to comment or provide information regarding employee personnel matters.  However, please know that any matter that we discover or are made aware of involving employee misconduct is investigated by our Department of Human Resources and reviewed by our school board with actions taken as deemed appropriate.  We also notify law enforcement on certain matters when necessary.” 

I guess his answer speaks for itself; they are not going to tell us anything under the cloak of employee privacy. I wonder what determines when they, “notify law enforcement on certain matters when necessary.” Do you think you or I would be investigated by human resources and our case reviewed by the school board before they notified law enforcement? I don’t think so. If this “rumor” is true and the thief remains uncharged and is not prosecuted, it will also be another clear example of how disengaged from reality and lawfulness the administrators of our public school system and our school board really are.
                                                                                                         
As bad as it sounds, this is not the ugliest “rumor” about our public school system that we have been following. In April 2014 and after considerable research that was ultimately stonewalled by the school system, we sent an email to the School Board in which we addressed a rumor spreading through the community about the theft of gate admission money at school sporting events. We also provided the findings of our research to the school board and offered suggestions to correct each identified shortcoming. It was not received well at all; imagine that.

Our public school system activity funds usually involve almost $1.5 million per year and are not monies from the school system's annual budget. Activity fund money comes from student parking fees, sporting and other event admission fees, club fees, money from fund raising, some scholarships, etc.

We will soon provide everything we know about the activity fund investigation. In the meantime, take a few minutes to share the rumor about the welding machine thief with others in our community and while you’re at it send a quick email to the school board and board of supervisors letting them know we know about the “rumor”. Here are their email addresses.

Board of Supervisors' email address: bos@gloucesterva.info 
School Board email address: SchoolBoard@gc.k12.va.us 

Click here to read more stories about our wonderful Gloucester County government, public school system and other topics: http://www.gloucestercounty-va.com

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Gloucester County, Virginia Blue Collar Government Employees’ Pay Neglected Like The Rest Of Our Infrastructure

The following SlideShare contains the salaries of all of our local government employees. Our local government appears to have neglected our blue collar employees for years by not investing the money to pay them competitive wages. 

  Heck they squirm when they have to spend money to make sure our blue collar employees have safe and adequate work environments. Our white collar employees have seen far more significant pay increases over the last five years than our blue collar employees and they are slated for pay increases again this year. Maybe it is time for our white collar employees to make do with what they are currently earning and raise our blue collar employees’ wages to a competitive level. This is just another area of Gloucester’s infrastructure that has been neglected for years and continues to be neglected today. Tell our Supervisors enough is enough. And don’t forget to remind them this is an election year for three of them.
SlideShare is best viewed in full screen mode. Just click on the double arrows.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Gloucester County, Va. Real Estate Tax Assessment Corruption??

Gloucester, VA - Picture taken for the new Gloucester Links & News website.  Gloucestercounty-va.com

You Decide

If this story does not cause you to question the integrity of the Board of Supervisors and real estate tax assessments in Gloucester County, Virginia, nothing will.

On October 4, 2016 the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors (BOS) approved a land swap deal between Gloucester’s Department of Public Utilities (Utilities) and Gloucester resident Charles Kerns, Jr. When the land swap proposal was first presented to the BOS, then Chairman John Meyer asked, “Is the concept of swapping properties the way the County wants to do business?” He then said, “Sounds like it has the potential for a win win.” As it turns out, Supervisor Meyer had a stake in the land swap deal; in that the entrance to his personal estate shares a property line with the piece of land Mr. Kerns traded to Utilities. Supervisor Meyer’s personal involvement is further exemplified by Mr. Kerns’ written assertion that he also offered to sell his property to adjacent landowners. There is also significant evidence strongly suggesting there was local government corruption involving real estate tax assessments in the land swap deal. Let’s explore who actually won in the deal.

The story as I know it started to form while I was serving on the Gloucester Public Utilities Advisory Committee (PUAC). During a Committee meeting in late 2015, the Director of Utilities spoke briefly about a possible land swap deal between Utilities and Mr. Kerns. During the same meeting the Director also spoke about failing septic systems in the Terrapin Cove Sewer Extension project (Project) area. (This Project was frozen by the BOS in 2014 due to a lack of funding and the unwillingness of property owners to commit to connecting to the system.) During that PUAC meeting the Director also spoke about Utilities’ efforts in attempting to obtain grant funding to finance the extension of public sewer down just one street in the Project area. That street was Laurel Drive and is the same street where one of Utilities’ properties involved in the land swap is located. A few months later the Director informed the committee the grant funding was unobtainable in the current fiscal year, but Utilities intended to apply during the next fiscal year. In the back of my mind I wondered if there was a connection between Utilities efforts to install new sewer service just on Laurel Drive and the land swap that he spoke of. After watching the story unfold I absolutely believe there was a connection. If public sewer were available at the Terrapin Cove lot, the owner would have been able to build a duplex or similar type of rental unit on the property instead of just a single family dwelling. In this article I will focus primarily on the assessment values of the properties contained in the land swap deal.  

The land swap proposal next came to my attention in late July 2016 when it appeared on the County’s website as an agenda item for the August 2, 2016 BOS meeting. Utilities was requesting the BOS to approve advertising a Public Hearing on the land swap deal. I found this troubling because the PUAC had not been provided with any information pertaining to the deal and had not been given the opportunity to vet it before the Director presented it to the BOS. Upon researching the locations, values and such pertaining to the properties contained in the deal; I found some highly questionable anomalies in the County’s real estate tax assessment values. The following information obtained from Gloucester County’s online real estate tax database; clearly demonstrates the anomalies I am talking about.
 
Assessment Comparison
RPC                Street                             Acres      2015 Assess         2010 Assess     

*14627          Belroi Rd                         1.62         $41,780               $25,000*

16706    Terrapin Cv./Laurel Dr           .32           $24,290                $45,000

10095        Booker St                            .3             $9,920                  $49,700

*/Red = Kerns property
Black = Utilities property

As you see; the County assessed values of the two Utilities properties decreased dramatically during the 2015 assessment cycle. It is also clearly evident the County’s assessed value of Mr. Kerns’ property dramatically increased during the same assessment cycle. For some strange reason, all of the dramatic shifts in property values substantially benefited Mr. Kerns.
 
Another anomaly I discovered was the difference in assessment values between the Terrapin Cove property and a cleared vacant property on Laurel Drive that shares a property line with the Terrapin Cove property. The following information obtained from Gloucester’s online property database reflects the differences:

Terrapin Cove and Laurel Drive Property Value Comparison
RPC                Street                       Acres          2010               2015              2017               

16706        Terrapin Cove                .32           $45,000          $24,290         $43,720

19606           Laurel Dr.                   .297          $45,000          $46,810         $46,810

As you can see; the assessment values were consistent in 2010, but in 2015 the larger Terrapin Cove property mysteriously lost value long enough for Utilities and Mr. Kerns to make the land swap deal. And look at that; after the land swap deal was completed, the Terrapin Cove property increased in value during the 2017 assessment cycle, but more on that later because those values were an unknown at the time.

When I discovered the questionable changes in the 2015 assessment values I shared them with York District Supervisor Phillip Bazzani. He in turn created a PowerPoint presentation representing my concerns that he shared with me and said he shared with the rest of the BOS and members of County staff. The PowerPoint presentation was never shown to the public. Utilities presented the land swap deal to the BOS on August 2, 2016 and the BOS sent it back to the PUAC for vetting. The BOS also instructed the County Administrator to obtain independent appraisals on all of the properties contained in the proposal.

During that same BOS meeting the County Administrator publicly said, the County Assessor said, that among other complex things (that he did not elaborate on), assessing the value of non-taxable property was not on the list of priorities to be accomplished during the 2015 assessment cycle; therefore little time was spent insuring the accuracy of those values because they are nontaxable properties. My question is; why did the values of only those two Utilities owned properties dramatically decrease when the values of the other two buildable Utilities’ properties contained in the deal experienced unusual increases in value? More about the third, unbuildable property later. Also; what caused Mr. Kerns property to increase in value so much?

The following information obtained from Gloucester’s online real estate tax database demonstrates the 2010 through 2017 assessed values of the other Utilities owned properties that found their way into the proposal Utilities presented to the BOS.

Assessment Comparison of Utilities’ Properties Contained in the Land Swap Proposal
RPC                 2010 Asses       2015 Assess       2017 Assess

28607                 $50,000              $59,970             $47,660

12656                 $35,000              $46,940             $36,100

19691                 $4,700                $4,060               $1,800

Bunting's Appraisal Service, which has a lengthy history of providing real estate services to Gloucester’s local government, was hired by Utilities to provide the independent appraisals. The following demonstrates the difference between those appraisals and the County’s assessment values of the swapped properties from 2010 thru 2017.

County Assessments vs. Independent Appraisal
RPC          Street           2010 Assess    2015 Assess      Ind Apraisal        2017 Assess           

16706    Terrapin Cv.      $45,000             $24,290             $30,000             $43, 720

10095     Booker St         $49,700             $9,920                $5,000               $26,460

*14627   Belroi Rd          $25,000             $41,780             $45,000             $41,780

*/Red = Kerns property
Black= Utilities property

As you can see; the 2016 independent appraisal values also strongly favored Mr. Kerns in comparison to the 2010 assessments and the 2017 assessments that were released only a few days after the deal was completed.

The PUAC met on two occasions to discuss the land swap deal. (Keep in mind we did not know the 2017 values) The independent appraisals had not been received by the first time we met so the discussion was tabled until they were available for review. During the brief second PUAC discussion, a vote was taken by the committee members and resulted in a split decision to recommend the BOS approve the deal. The vote was 4 to approve, 2 to disapprove and 1 member abstained from voting. I voted against the land swap deal for multiple reasons like; there was no data supported business case presented to justify acquiring the property, but the most profound reason I voted the way I did was because I clearly saw the whole deal as being government corruption. In fact, during the last PUAC discussion, one of my fellow committee members said I was just upset about the assessments and can’t let it go. He was right and I say he is part of the corruption for letting it go. Meeting Minutes from the Land swap deal Public Hearing reflect Utilities’ director insinuating I voted the way I did because I felt the Utilities property values were to low. Funny how there was no mention of me disagreeing with giving away highly marketable real estate based on his unsupported speculations. 

The BOS unanimously approved the land swap deal after a Public Hearing; during which the County Administrator said the assessment anomalies were the result of a glitch in the new assessment software and that the County assessor had notified the state about the glitch. I don’t buy it at all. But that is not where the land swap deal story ends. On February 17th the Gloucester Mathews Gazette Journal listed the Terrapin Cove Road property as being sold by Mr. Kerns for $55,000. According to the Gazette Journal and online property records; Mr. Kerns sold the property to the property owner who has lived right next door to the property since 1998. In other words; the two properties share a property line. I wonder if the new owner knows the whole story behind how Mr. Kerns obtained possession of the property and how the assessment values have been manipulated. Something tells me the new owner would have preferred to buy the property for the $30,000 independent appraisal value. He would have saved $25,000.

After finding out Mr. Kerns’ property had been sold; I checked the 2017 County assessment that was released to the public only a few weeks after the BOS approved the land swap deal. I could not believe my eyes. The following demonstrates the County’s assessment values of the swapped properties from 2010 thru 2017 and the 2016 independent appraisal values:

2010 thru 2017 Assessments and 2016 Independent Appraisal
RPC          Street           2010 Assess      2015 Assess    Ind Apraisal         2017 Assess           

16706    Terrapin Cv.      $45,000             $24,290             $30,000             $43, 720

10095     Booker St         $49,700             $9,920                $5,000               $26,460

*14627   Belroi Rd          $25,000             $41,780             $45,000             $41,780

*/Red = Kerns property
Black= Utilities property

When the BOS approved the land swap deal, their decision was based on the 2016 independent appraisal values. The combined value of Utilities two properties at that time was $35,000 and Mr. Kerns’ property was valued at $45,000. The combined assessment values of Utilities former properties is now $70,180 and the value of Mr. Kerns former property is now valued at $41,780. At the time the deal was approved, Mr. Kerns’ property was determined to be worth $10,000 more than the property he received from Utilities. Within days of the deal being made, the property Mr. Kerns received from Utilities became worth $28,400 more than the property he unloaded on Utilities.

So why did Mr. Kerns decide to sell or trade his property instead of building rental units on it? I guess it could have been for any number of reasons, but I have a theory that is probably not to far off target. Like I said earlier; the entrance to Supervisor Meyer’s personal estate shares a property line with the piece of land Mr. Kerns unloaded on Utilities. I believe having renters living at the entrance to his home did not sit well with Supervisor Meyer, but he opted not to pay $50,000 for the property. From there the land swap plan was hatched. I believe somewhere along the way someone with full access to the County’s real estate tax assessment database manipulated the property values of the three properties exchanged in the deal.

The land swap deal is just another example of the corruption that takes place within Gloucester County’s local government. Should there be a forensic audit performed on everything pertaining to real estate tax assessments in Gloucester County? Let us know what you think by emailing us at Kennysr61@gmail.com or by posting remarks on the Facebook post that led you here.

Kenny Hogge, Sr.
Gloucester Point
Retired United States Army

Helping to Drain the Swamp