As a member of the St. John Board of Realtors, I attended the Virgin Islands Territorial Association of Realtors (VITAR) Meeting June 30, 2007 at Caneel Bay Resort here on St. John. Gov. John P. DeJongh Jr. spoke regarding the issues we in the Virgin Islands are having with our property taxes and further discussed with the realtors how they were impacted by the revaluation. The following is from a post on the Governor’s site: http://www.governordejongh.com/
Gov. John P. deJongh Jr. Saturday outlined his administration’s plans to bring about improvements to the real estate industry in the Virgin Islands. DeJongh was the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the V.I. Territorial Association of Realtors meeting held at Caneel Bay Resort on St. John
With the revaluation of all commercial properties completed and residential properties about 99% done, deJongh told the gathering that impact notices will go out by July complete with a information on where questions can be directed. The impact notices will advise property owners on how their property values were affected by the recent revaluation project. The governor said that 2006 property tax bills, which will reflect the revaluation, will be in the mail by the latter part of this year. The 2007 tax bills will be out in early 2008. Given the signing of H.R. 57 by President George W. Bush on Friday, the territory now has the authorization to administer its own property tax system. “This means that we can now reinstate the many exemptions that were removed such as homestead, veterans and farmland exemptions,†deJongh explained. The dollar amounts of the exemptions will also be increased.
In the wide-ranging address, deJongh also spoke of plans to streamline the business process, step up effort to recruit more companies to participate in the EDC program, hire a person to oversee the territory’s development, implement a bonding program for local builders, address planning issues in DPNR and hire a city planner for St. John. The governor entertained questions from the realtors at the end of his presentation that ranged from affordable housing to plans of the administration to consolidate all housing functions under the V.I. Housing Finance Authority.
Posted by Marty marty@islandiarealestate.com
