Editor, Times-Union: Anyone that has read some of my old letters for the past few years will know how I feel about taxes but just in case you don’t I will set the record straight. I think we need to pay them to run the fat governments we have created but they should be equal for all citizens not just for some that have connections. I found out that my property had gone up in value $25,100 in one year when I got my new assessment. When I went in to inquire why they had gone up, I was told that I have frontage and it was more valuable than a quiet neighborhood with a speed limit and no trains blowing their horns day and night and that was that. I really don’t enjoy arguing with the county every year but I do have my limits of how much abuse I will take. I informed them that two acres of my land floods six times a year from runoff water above my property because it has to go down and I am the lowest point on my side of the railroad tracks and Ranch rd. So that makes that two acres useful for nothing but growing grass and trees. They told me they are allowed to be off in value by ten percent high or low and they felt they were within those specs. Last year I had my house appraised by two people in this area and both gave me a total value of $25,000 less than the county says it is worth. I know from looking at Beacon on line that many houses including the assessor's have not increased in the last year to near the extent of mine. I have also found some people pay NO TAXES on their homes because with their low assessment and credits they end up paying nothing. If you look at Beacon online you may be surprised by how this works. How can we run a county when there are such differences in values from one house to another that are similar and in the same neighborhood? We are electing people to jobs that they are not qualified to preform and they are raising the cost of living for all of us. However we elect them not because of their abilities but because they are nice and we like the signs that they put in our yards every four years. If you are not happy with your assessment hurry up and go online download the form and file a complaint, you only have forty five days from the new assessment date and you do not need to get an appraisal. I know you may be afraid to fight them but they work for us and we need fight when they are wrong and then to vote with our brains not our hearts when we elect these people. Michael Alspaugh Warsaw, via email
