Peace and fair taxation without appeal

S. Fox’s notable letter of 3/31/23 documents the “fear and grief” of inaccurate reassessment that results in unfair tax, the profound relief experienced by “successful” appeal, and the pride at the praise, “good job”. Those words are intended to leave aggrieved homeowners grateful to, even defensive of, the people who caused their distress. We all heard them at our appeals. What other licensed professional so easily escapes accountability after a ten percent error? A contractor leaving a wall two feet off? A banker keeping $10 out of a hundred? Is your butcher selling rotten meat in every tenth package?

Why aren’t Supervisors outraged by a contractor they approved delivering a $30.6M error confirmed by 1100 resident homeowners? Because Supervisor’s homes were not over-assessed, maybe even under-assessed. When it is “too complicated” to explain, maybe it’s just wrong. If there is a logical explanation, no one has offered it. There is precedent for handling this.

S. Fox is correct: We deserve “peace without the government taking that away and without others complaining.” We have a legal right to a uniform, equitable, accurate, and consistent reassessment without having to appeal for it. The Supervisors have the duty and responsibility to see that we get it. Why is Ed Daley running interference with the exact words, telling us “good job” for “successfully” retrieving our own wallets? A biscuit and a pat on the head. The nerve!

C.A. Wulf
Warren County