Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Looking for property tax solutions

Guest opinion by Pawan K. Mehra


Pawan K. Mehra is a resident of Sun Valley.

Mark Twain said that "the law can be an ass if it is amoral, not fair to all and creates an end result that is negative."

I think the law on property taxes as applied to the Wood River Valley, generally, and Sun Valley and Ketchum, specifically, meets all three criteria.

· The current law has robbed us of almost all demographic diversity. Yes, roses are magnificent, but if that's all we had, pretty soon we would only see and feel the thorns. If you visit downtown Ketchum after 5:30 p.m., the streets are deserted as almost everyone has fled south. It's no wonder that restaurants and other businesses that depend on local trade are closing.

The government that created this situation is trying to fix it with a Band-Aid, i.e. subsidized housing, which at best will create a dual diversity: visitors and locals that can afford the taxes and those that service them. The wise elderly and the diverse middle class will be missing.

· Unfair to the point of amoral, those who moved here many years ago paid taxes so their children could attend school, but in their golden years they had to move out because they could not afford the taxes. The diverse skiers and their families who owned a piece of paradise had to leave because the taxes were too much to continue.

· Yes, the seniors have a circuit-breaker program, and the exemption has gone up from $50,000 to $75,000. To use the first, you have to be at the poverty level, and the second is a joke if your assessment has gone up from $1 million to $2 million in one year.

· The appeal process is a catch-22. Selling prices in Idaho are secret, so there is really no way to objectively debate the assessor's value. It is your word against his or hers. The assessors are generally fair but appear overworked making decisions about the homeowner's evaluation that will affect the homeowner's life. Furthermore, for this monumental decision, the discussion time allowed is five minutes each with a three-minute rebuttal in front of a commission that appears to be motivated to get more money.

· Finally, raising taxes should be based on due process, logic with checks and balances. In the case of property taxes, it appears that when more money is needed, the government re-assesses the properties. There is no debate, no logic as to the cost of living increase or any other form of checks and balances.

Solutions:

· If we fix the assessment at purchase price, plus inflation, it will create long-term residents with stability. The residents would pay current taxes when they have young children and when they get old and stay put. Their taxes will be relatively low and fair since they no longer have young children who use the school system. New people moving in, young or old, will pay at the current purchase price and, therefore, higher taxes. In other words, a long-term resident will no longer be blindsided or forced to move. Stable residents and diversity will mitigate the need for subsidized housing, which at best is unfair, a debate for another time.

· A radical solution under the current law: Give homeowners 30 days after a new assessment to sell their houses to the county at the assessed value or give the county 30 days to purchase the property at the homeowners' assessed value. If we did that, I bet you, both sides will be much more diligent about evaluating the house.




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