Driveway/ road millings and taxes?

The Evil Twin

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L2501, LA526,
Jul 19, 2022
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The couple homes that live off our easement are thinking about doing the whole road in millings. The gravel is expensive, dusty and a pain. I have had such food results with my RV loop that we are thinking about doing it all.
One guy asked the tax question. He said his inlaws did it and then their taxes went up because the road was "paved".
Now, I don't know if they fought it. I certainly would. Ask the tax man to come by and show them its not asphalt.
Anyone run into this?
Edit: I have reached out to the county via email but have not heard back.
 
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texas42

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B2601
Nov 27, 2023
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Aubrey, TX
To the uneducated in road construction terms, asphalt millings when placed and compacted properly resemble "asphalt pavement" especially at 30 mph.
To fight it would require much education of an assessor that doesn't want to be educated.
 

The Evil Twin

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L2501, LA526,
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To the uneducated in road construction terms, asphalt millings when placed and compacted properly resemble "asphalt pavement" especially at 30 mph.
To fight it would require much education of an assessor that doesn't want to be educated.
That's what I'm thinking happened. A drive by or satellite photo made it look paved. Fortunately my county is VERY easy to work with and talk to. Fighting it would be easy as long as they do not consider millinhs to be the same as asphalt pavement. Not sure why they would since they are not the same.
Anyhoo.... hoping someone has run into it themselves.
 

KKBL

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L2501 HST QA 525 loader, 42" forks, brush hog, grader/box/back blades
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Girard, PA
Here in Erie County PA, the tax assessment is based on buildings and acreage of the property. Private drive construction materials are not part of the assessed tax value, but I imagine that other states or counties can tax things differently to take more of our money.
We did about 1/3 of our 1/2 mile drive with millings 2 years ago to see how it would hold up in the really bad areas. Very impressed with how well it worked and plan (hope to be able) to do the rest this year.
Less expensive than gravel per ton here, no dust, and becomes almost as good as pavement after it has packed down, but it needs to be put down thick. We had four 20 ton tri-axel loads delivered by a driver that knows how to gate it correctly. Overhead wires or large over hanging trees are a problem when that dump box is all the way up unloading.
Once completed, it we shouldn't have to constantly deal with the pot holes, mud, dust problems for many years. After maintaining the 1/2 mile drive for 33+ years I am looking forward to that. Not cheap, but way way less than paving would be.
 
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GreensvilleJay

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My end of the Earth, 'millings' are called RAP ( Recycled Asphalt Paving )..GREAT stuff IF you drive on it !! When you don't it'll 'crumble' as there's no binder ( tar).
When I did the shop driveway and parking area, about 4 months later moved a car and the RAP under it was 'crumbly' loose. drive over it a few times with forklift it became 'hard' again.
No change in taxes but different part of the Earth that the OP....
 
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John T

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2017 BX23S
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under a rock
The couple homes that live off our easement are thinking about doing the whole road in millings.
One note,
Make sure you buy Fine SCREENED Millings.

sorry if this is obvious information... But I've seen people make that mistake... when they see cheap millings for sale.

Screened millings will pack nice. (when done right)
unscreened will have big chunks and who knows what else.

Hire an experience company to do the work ... preferably with a small grader and a Roller

Not Hector and his 5 hombres with a beatup pickup truck and steel rakes... :ROFLMAO:
 
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KKBL

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L2501 HST QA 525 loader, 42" forks, brush hog, grader/box/back blades
Jan 5, 2022
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Girard, PA
One note,
Make sure you buy Fine SCREENED Millings.

sorry if this is obvious information... But I've seen people make that mistake... when they see cheap millings for sale.

Screened millings will pack nice. (when done right)
unscreened will have big chunks and who knows what else.

Hire an experience company to do the work ... preferably with a small grader and a Roller

Not Hector and his 5 hombres with a beatup pickup truck and steel rakes... :ROFLMAO:
Yes, screened millings only. We have a guy with a vibrating drum roller to pack them down. I think he charged $135 to do the 80 ton stretch two years ago.
We did get 2 loads of un-screened for free. It makes good base material for the really bad areas.
 
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The Evil Twin

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L2501, LA526,
Jul 19, 2022
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I'm in CT and the town doesn't care if you have a dirt driveway or a paved one. Since I am on a private road it is dirt since the others on the road don't want to chip in to do anything to improve it.
Is that why you are "Dusty" Rusty? 🤣
 
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The Evil Twin

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L2501, LA526,
Jul 19, 2022
3,013
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Virginia
One note,
Make sure you buy Fine SCREENED Millings.

sorry if this is obvious information... But I've seen people make that mistake... when they see cheap millings for sale.

Screened millings will pack nice. (when done right)
unscreened will have big chunks and who knows what else.

Hire an experience company to do the work ... preferably with a small grader and a Roller

Not Hector and his 5 hombres with a beatup pickup truck and steel rakes... :ROFLMAO:
We are going one up from a contractor ($14,000). Doing it ourselves. Its not rocket surgery. I did our RV loop by myself last year. Dug down 4", used RC6 for the base of 3-4". Then topped it with 3" of RAP. Graded with the box blade and 3pt rake. After that, I rented a double drum vibrating compactor. It was a ride on 4000 lb unit. So far so good with 21,000 lbs driving/ parking on it. We drive on it almost daily. Except where the RV is The road already has a base and gravel.
Good point on the screened flavor. That will be the top coat of the last inch or two.
 
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John T

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It's funny
You used to be able to get as much as you wanted for free..
Now screened millings are a big money maker.
It's also used by asphalt plants ..
they mix it in when they make hot asphalt.

state jobs require a certain % recycled
 
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The Evil Twin

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L2501, LA526,
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Supply and demand. Certainly more demand since it started getting recycled into new asphalt mixes. Still, $8/ ton delivered to my house isn't bad in my book. Diesel ain't cheap.
Update- I finally got ahold of a guy in the right department. He didn't think there was any reason it would change property taxes for us. He is going to nose around and get back to me.
 

Speed25

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Apr 23, 2024
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Realistically, I can see the homes' appeal/value being worth more without a gravel driveway, but it won't rise to the standard of concrete or asphalt which are typically the options on an appraisal report. I think you'd be fine. Now if you deeded the right-of-way and constructed things to VDOT standards, this would change entirely, but I wouldn't want to see the bill on that.
 

dirtydeed

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interesting...I've never heard of getting tax increases for paving a driveway. Yikes.

Here, we do bump up against impermeable ground cover (area) if you pave/concrete a driveway. Millings are considered as an aggregate and therefore aren't included in that calculation.
 

The Evil Twin

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L2501, LA526,
Jul 19, 2022
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Virginia
interesting...I've never heard of getting tax increases for paving a driveway. Yikes.

Here, we do bump up against impermeable ground cover (area) if you pave/concrete a driveway. Millings are considered as an aggregate and therefore aren't included in that calculation.
If it increases the value off the property, taxes go up. We had to file a form for our solar array so that it did not increase the assessed value. Solar / wind generation is exempted from real property tax assessments
 

dirtydeed

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If it increases the value off the property, taxes go up. We had to file a form for our solar array so that it did not increase the assessed value. Solar / wind generation is exempted from real property tax assessments
They try to get ya anyway that they can I suppose.