ELKINS — The Randolph County Assessor’s Office will be reviewing real estate appraisal information for the Valley Bend, Beverly, Beverly Corporation and Elkins Corporation Districts.

Appraisal regulations for tax purposes require that all property be reviewed or updated by each county’s Assessor’s Office on a three-year cycle. The reviewing process for properties began on March 1.

“We do the county in thirds each year, so the three-year cycle will take care of the whole county,” Randolph County Assessor Lance Marcum told The Inter-Mountain. “It will take us some time to finish it all up because Randolph County is such a large county.”

The Assessor’s Office has more than 3,300 residential properties to review in the Elkins District, more than 3,600 in Beverly, 1,400 in Valley Bend, and 300 in the Beverly Corporation District. It will also be reviewing 1,000 commercial properties in those districts.

“Our appraisers will probably be working on these until December,” Marcum said. “Right now we have three appraisers and they are going to be very busy for the rest of the year. Other than the appraisals that they do, they also do quarterly sales and then around July or August they will have property transfers and splits they will work on as well.”

Appraisers from the Assessor’s Office will be working door-to-door to verify information in the district.

“The appraisers will come and photograph and are required by state code to visit all Class 2 properties, which are owner occupied,” Marcum said. “They (appraisers) will make every attempt to knock on the door and to talk to people. If anyone is there we will talk to them and make sure all of their information matches what they have.

“If things need to be removed or added the appraisers will take care of it then. If someone is not home we will always call back and we leave a phone number on a door hanger where people can call and we can ask them questions over the phone.”

Marcum said for Class 3 properties, which is a property with a different mailing address, a vacant property, or a rental, letters will be mailed out to the owners who can contact the Assessor’s Office.

Marcum added that the purpose of the review is to verify the information the Assessor’s Office currently has and to list any new construction. That will help keep the real estate appraisals for tax purposes fair and equal.

“Part of the appraisal is checking our records against what is physically there,” Marcum said. “If there is something that we have on our record that is no longer there, it’s been torn down or removed, then we take it off our record. If something has been added like additions, porches, decks, and stuff like that on a house or building, then we add it.”

For more questions or information, call the Assessor’s Office 304-636-2114.