Seventeen residents in the Brandy Creek have filed a lawsuit demanding refunds from what they claim are illegally collected taxes.

The lawsuit names as defendants the city of Roanoke Rapids, Halifax County and the Weldon school district.

Attorneys for the University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights filed the suit today in Halifax County court on behalf of the 17 plaintiffs listed in the lawsuit.

Introduction

The lawsuit is a continuation of efforts in the community to get refunds after the county and city turned down requests from community members earlier this year. The Weldon City Schools Board of Education also turned down the request, according to the lawsuit.

“I think the complaint speaks for itself,” said Peter Gilbert, one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit today.

The lawsuit describes the Brandy Creek and Wallace Fork Road community as a working class, African-American neighborhood and describes how in 2005 it was legislatively annexed at the request of Roanoke Rapids City Council as part of Carolina Crossroads and what is now the Roanoke Rapids Theatre.

“Carolina Crossroads was predicted to include restaurants, an amusement park, indoor and outdoor music venues, and the Randy Parton Theater as the centerpiece,” the lawsuit says. “Roanoke Rapids never informed Brandy Creek residents of the city’s intent to annex the community and never held any public hearings on the proposed annexation.”

Following the annexation, the lawsuit says, Brandy Creek residents saw the addition of Roanoke Rapids taxes to their annual property tax bill, which also included taxes paid to Halifax County and the Weldon school system.

On July 26, 2006, in a single transaction, Rock River Falls, LLC, a real estate development company, purchased 32 mostly contiguous lots in Brandy Creek for approximately $2,875,000. “The $2,875,000 paid by Rock River was far in excess of the combined tax values assessed by Halifax County for the 32 lots subject to the purchase,” the lawsuit says. “Many of the lots purchased by Rock River were occupied by tenants renting the land or the mobile home located on that land. All those tenants were evicted. As a result of the evictions following the Rock River purchase, Brandy Creek lost nearly half of its residents.”

On October 23, 2006, Rock River sold parcel number 1220045, one of the parcels that were part of the July 26 purchase, to plaintiff Pamela Arrington for $17,500. The assessed tax value of the parcel at the time was $8,480.

On November 16, 2006, Rock River sold parcel number 1220054, one of the parcels that was part of the July 26 purchase, to plaintiff Joyce Harrison for $12,500. The assessed value of the parcel at the time was $8,840.

Arguments

In 2007 Halifax County completed is statutorily required countywide property tax reassessment. “Upon information and belief, in assessing the tax value for land in Brandy Creek, the Halifax County Tax Assessor considered only the Rock River July 26 purchase, and divided the purchase price by the number of lots included in that sale to calculate a per parcel land value of approximately $90,000,” according to the lawsuit. “As a result of the 2007 Reassessment, the average assessed land values in Brandy Creek increased an average of 811 percent.”

Land values for properties located in other areas of the county, in Roanoke Rapids and in the Weldon School District were not subject to comparable increases, the lawsuit says. “Upon information and belief, elsewhere in Halifax County, the 2007 Reassessment resulted in assessed land value increases, on average, of 34 percent in Roanoke Rapids, 19 percent in Halifax County overall — Brandy Creek excluded — and 33 percent on properties located in a neighborhood immediately adjacent to Brandy Creek.”

Says the lawsuit, “The 2007 Reassessment values of the properties in Brandy Creek were far in excess of the true market value of the properties.”

In 2010, a small number of Brandy Creek residents wrote to the Halifax County Tax Assessor seeking reconsideration and relief from the inflated assessments.

Subsequent to receiving the letters seeking reconsideration, the Tax Assessor revised the inflated values for all the properties in Brandy Creek, not only the specific parcels owned by the residents who initially contacted the Assessor’s office.

The lawsuit contends, “As a result of the illegal tax payments received by all three defendants, plaintiffs have suffered severe and particular hardship not imposed on similarly situated property owners in Halifax County.

“Tax increases ranging from 400 to 1500 percent caused several plaintiffs to make late payments, face high penalties and interest, have wages garnished, and even to abandon their homes. Even if defendants’ contentions about their statutory liability are correct, the defendants’ unjust and arbitrary actions have inflicted a loss on the residents of Brandy Creek for which those residents have not adequate remedy.”

The lawsuit asks that the plaintiffs be awarded damages in excess of $10,000 and any other damages the court sees fit.