My mother was right

To The Eagle:

April is so great! You get your tax refund and magically you get to use it to pay your first half of your property taxes, not buy a new car, not to go on a cruise, not to buy a boat---my mother told me “Life isn’t always fair.” And again the poor local Assessor is under fire giving your property a value that you don’t like---unless you’re going to sell this year.

Well, here is the enigma of the Assessor’s numbers: He is only right when he is extremely lucky. His crystal ball spewing values is always behind what is happening in the market place. When the market is hot he is always low, when the market is awful (2008-2014) he is always high. If you are a buyer or seller you’re waiting for these market swings to take advantage of what your situation is. If you don’t intend to sell this year, you are always ticked off at the Assessor. Welcome to his world. Maybe you should take out your wrath on your neighbors who voted for all those totally necessary initiatives that appeared on the ballot or even our wonderful state legislature that can never say ‘no’ to a tax increase that they see.

So take it easy on our poor Assessor whoever he is because his estimates are only right 5 to 7 percent of the time.

R. A. Orr

Cathlamet