It has been brought to my attention by many Baltimore County homeowners that their recent property tax assessments are unfair and that their appeal for reductions have been rejected or have been very minuscule. When the appellants sign up for the second appeals step at the Property Tax Assessment Appeal Board, they are getting insultingly small deductions in their overassessed property, or, in many instances, they receive no deduction at all.
Years ago, the PTAAB, which is separate from the Property Tax Assessment Department, was fair and objective. You could count on decent deduction to offset the unfair increase by the assessor. But now this has changed. The board’s attitude has shifted, despite the fact that it is hearing more cases in 2008 than it has in the past 10 years.
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This PTAAB board, with three politically appointed members (one is named Ruppersberger), is now a carbon copy of the assessments department. There is no depth to this board and no reasoning. Very few decisions favor the appellants. Homeowners are greeted by handshakes and smiles, but the hearing remains superficial. PTAAB speaks for the assessments department when it makes poor decisions, ignoring the pleas of homeowners. Past and present records reveal small numbers of reductions. This is a major concern.
In their arguments, assessors cite home and land comparables that are unusually high, having been sold during the height of the real estate boom. Now that the bubble has burst, the much-lower real estate prices of homes sold or for sale are rejected for 2008.
“The assessed cycle is for 2005 through 2007,” said one board member. “We can’t consider 2008 sales now.”
Fairness is all the appellants are looking for, and they’re not getting it at PTAAB. It was a haven for homeowners in the past, but now it’s a bureaucratic nightmare.
David Boyd
White Hall
Terrorism editorial was ‘irresponsible’
It is irresponsible for The Examiner’s editor to suggest that the only reason we have not experienced another foreign terrorist attack on U.S. soil in seven years is because of Bush taking his eye off the Tora Bora prize and wrongly invading Iraq for the 9/11 attack they did not commit.
The original attack on the World Trade Center occurred on Feb. 26, 1993. No other foreign terrorist attack (we did have Oklahoma and Timothy McVeigh, but he was homegrown, not foreign) occurred on American soil until Sept. 11, 2001.
That was more than seven years without an attack. We did not invade a sovereign nation nor put American troops in harm’s way, yet still it took more than seven years for them to be successful again. These jihadists think long-term, not short-term until the next election like us. They expect a battle that may take generations. If they fail 10 years in a row, they only need to succeed every once in a while to make an impact. We must succeed 100 percent of the time to prevent an attack.
The majority of success against terrorists through mankind’s history has been through police and Intelligence services, and through cooperation with other nations. The majority of terrorists killed or captured since 9/11 has been through these type of actions, not military force. While it is very important to use military force when necessary, as it was in Afghanistan, it should not be the first recourse.
The jihadist will go to wherever we are. We did not need to invade the wrong country, Iraq, to draw them out.
Mark Thiess
Essex
Government should truly be for the people
There are some problems with Gregory Kane’s Sept. 3 column, “Dear Sen. Obama, What’s Changed?”
He is of the opinion that government money is generated by the government, and he is incorrect. It is not government money. It is citizen money – government just happens to think it’s theirs.
“Government of, by and for the people” — that should tell you whose money that “government” money belongs to. Just because we allow the government to tax us doesn’t change the fact that it is our money.
It is government’s obligation to work for our benefit. That is the true meaning of a government of, by and for the people.
Those in government positions pay themselves salaries out of our money. They get to raise their own salaries whenever, and however often, they wish to do so. We, the people, don’t get a say in that.
We don’t need to make charity cases out of our fellow citizens while our elected officials elevate themselves to royal status. Of, by and for the people means that we, the people, come first.
They can beg for charity; we, the people, shouldn’t have to.
Betty J. Erb
Westminster
How to fight!
For a free brochure that explains how to fight unfair property tax assessments, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Property Tax Payers United, P.O. Box 11, White Hall, MD 21161. Call 410-343-0666 to offer your support and get further advice.
