When Anna Chamberlain moved into her home on Bruceton Mills Circle in Ashburn Village in 1993, she thought she'd finally stopped pulling up stakes. After a lifetime in the Army Reserve, her husband had retired. The two settled into their small, three-bedroom home for the long haul.
Since her husband died in 2001, Chamberlain, 77, has been living off Social Security, two small pensions and a trust fund.
"You'd think it's enough to make it here and it would be, but the assessments are killing me," she said last week as she sat in the living room of her home. The house is airy and homey and filled with her husband's family's things, like a framed collection of Civil War-era signatures, including that of his ancestor, General Sherman. On the ring finger of her left hand, Chamberlain wears a silver ring with her husband's name in gold block letters: RAY.
Last year, the assessment on Chamberlain's home went up 21.5 percent. The average residential unit in Loudoun experienced a 11.3 percent jump. This year, the average is predicted to be 19.7 percent, and Chamberlain doesn't know what to expect.
In 2000, she paid $2,386 in real estate taxes. In 2002, $3,043. In 2004, $4,252. She and her husband bought the house for $203,000 and she knows she could get at least $450,000 for it today. She knows that because the nearly identical house across the street sold for that much the first day it went on the market, and that house had a huge caveat: it made headlines across the region last March when a teenager shot and killed his friend in its basement.
CHAMBERLAIN HAS the trust fund, of course, which prevents her from qualifying for elderly tax relief.
"I really don't like to touch that, because it's meant for the children," she said. With grandchildren and great-grandchildren, she wants to help provide for their college educations. Still, she finds herself dipping into it every month to pay her ever-increasing mortgage payments.
Chamberlain's husband was a smart-growth advocate who was treasurer of Voters to Stop Sprawl. When the new Republican majority took over the Board of Supervisors in the 2003 election, Chamberlain asked that a plaque honoring her husband be removed from the county government center.
"I don't believe building a lot more homes is going to help me," Chamberlain said. She's gotten involved with Campaign for Loudoun's Future, a coalition opposing rapid growth.
In two years, the 15-year mortgage on Chamberlain's house will be paid off. That will also be the year that she moves to Minnesota to live with her daughter.
On her table is a mailer from Ryan Homes advertising "Suffield Meadows," an age-restricted community in Gainsville. "Enjoy Active Adult Living Surrounding By Nature!" the brochure enthuses. The homes start from the mid-$400,000s.
"Look at this," she said. "If I left here, and stayed here, where would I go?"
CHAMBERLAIN is one of many senior citizens on a fixed income who are feeling the pinch from the ever-increasing housing assessments. According to county assessor Bill Gardner, the average assessed value of every residential unit in Loudoun was $289,000 in 2003. It's now $403,400.
This year's jump could be the most dramatic yet.
"It's the highest I can remember, and I've been here 33 years," Gardner said.
Gardner attributes the increasing values to Loudoun's attractiveness as a place to live. Not only was the county named the country's fastest growing in 2004, it was also the fastest growing in jobs.
"I think there's sort of a feeding frenzy, and people are afraid they're going to be left out," he said.
In December, the county voted to increase total real estate tax relief to the maximum allowed by the state for the elderly and permanently disabled: residents with a household income up to $72,000 and a maximum net worth of $340,000 can qualify.
In 2004, the county lost $2.3 million in tax revenue due to the tax relief program, according to staff reports.
This year's budget could potentially cut real estate tax to $1.07 per $100 assessed value from $1.1075, but with a 20 percent average jump in assessments, residents will still be paying more.
THE TAX RELIEF program doesn't ensure that all Loudoun seniors will be able to stay in the county. According to Area Agency on Aging administrator Anne Edwards, many seniors are in Chamberlain's boat.
"They are devoted to Loudoun County and they don't like the idea of leaving, but they do consider it," she said.
Seniors who want to move to the county to be near family often have a hard time too, she added. A large, single-family-detached home on a quarter acre is often not what seniors are looking for. Instead, they want to do what Edwards calls "downsizing."
"Many people look forward to it," Edwards said. "It's hard to find a smaller home they can afford."
Currently, there are several comprehensive plan amendments in process that could provide more age-restricted housing possibilities in the future. Right now, the comprehensive plan does not address age-restricted communities in detail.
The Area Agency on Aging helps point seniors in the direction of affordable housing, but the choices are admittedly limited for now. Only the smallest units at Leisure World in Lansdowne "might be what we call affordable," Edwards said.
The comprehensive plan amendments in process could help point the county in the right direction when it comes to housing availability.
"That will be good," Edwards said. "They will provide an option we don't see currently."