Can Appraised Values Be Lower Than Assessed Values?? HELP!

[Josh Deel]

So, here's my situation... My wife and I own a 112 acre farm in Virginia.  We bought the raw land in 2013 for appx. $305K.  Since then, we've put nearly another $200k down for building a new house, driveway, & some fencing (doing much of the work ourselves).  

My plan is to reappraise the property to reflect everything we've done to date, then pull out equity to pay off a few debts and also have a large amount for a downpayment on a 12-20 unit apartment deal.

The most recent tax assessment of our property (which doesn't reflect a lot of the work we've done in the past 6-8 months) has the property at $430k.  From what I researched, depending on the multiplier used, this should represent 60-80% of the appraisal value (which had me stoked!).  

HOWEVER, the appraiser just left and during our conversation explained that the new law is that assessed value has to be 100% (which I took to mean that my appraisal can't be above this number now).  Further, the appraiser told me he has to go by local comps- which in the rural location of our farm isn't promising since very little turnover happens unless someone dies.  The appraiser told me our appraisal could even be LESS THAN the assessment, which has me on pins and needles.  

What do you think?  Does what the appraiser told me sound correct?  Did I mention he's also on the board of the local bank which I approached to do this loan?  Should I be concerned, or is that irrelevant?  Should I hire another appraiser?  Or is that a mute point now?  Help!?  TIA!

Best,

Josh Deel