Mathews Commissioner of the Revenue Les Hall said he hasn’t yet caught up on the backlog of assessments he faced when he took office in January, but he’s gotten "a good boost."

The board of supervisors granted Hall’s June request for a $3,500 supplement to pay the firm Wampler and Eanes to complete some of the more complicated assessments, and Hall went along to get some hands-on training.

With those assessments completed, along with others that Hall has done himself, his office is now able to send out supplemental bills. He said they’ll be mailed in a week or so.

The supplemental bills are for properties that have increased in value because of improvements that have been made. Hall said some of the improvements go back as far as four years, and that property owners will have to make up the difference. Although paying the past-due taxes will be a burden for some, most people want to do the right thing, he said.

"People came into the office and asked for their bills because they knew they had built a house and hadn’t been taxed and they didn’t want to be hit with a huge bill all at once," he said.

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