How will county pay back money?

Letter to the editor
Published: May 29, 2008

Editor:

It has been more than six months since I made the public offer for anyone to buy my house at the assessed value. I protested and won a very small reduction in the assessed value, which was a joke. The market value is $65,000 less than the number my taxes will be calculated on this year. This means that in 2008, I will be forced to pay tax on $65,000 in home value that I do not have.

At the time Madison County mailed out the assessment, it is only common sense that they had to know they were over-valuing homes by a significant amount. They have no motivation to correct their assumption error that housing prices will continue to rise. In fact, the latest estimates are that we will be in this slump for the next three years at least or until our economy improves (good luck).

Now they are considering borrowing money to balance the budget without explaining how they will pay it back. This makes it even less likely that taxpayers will get their home value to reflect the market.

Anyone want to buy an over-assessed, well-maintained and energy-efficient house?

Mark Evans
Malvern