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Tax appeals a waste of time

4 min read

Recently I received my new and fair property tax assessment. My new assessment left me puzzled, as my chief tax thief assessor James Hercik had reported in the Herald Standard, June 28 edition that 60 percent of the values would stay the same or be reduced, and 40 percent would increase. With this being the case, I continued opening property after property of new assessments and found not one of the properties was the same or reduced but all had increases, some by amounts over $100,000. In my case, 100 percent of my properties had increased, not the 40 percent Hercik had stated. So being confused, I asked 15 other property owners about their tax assessments, and all of them said their taxes had increased, some by two to six times from their prior assessment.

Enough about that, the purpose of this article is to tell first-time appeal filers what to expect through the fair appeal process, from my past experiences.

I started by receiving my fair new assessments through the mail, which stated if I disagreed to let them know by calling. Easy enough, it only took five tries. I told them that I disagreed with my new assessments, gave the information on the properties in question, and was told I would receive the appeal forms by mail and the appeal date would be set.

It really didn’t matter to the taxing office if I would have to miss a day of work for this waste of time process. The money didn’t come out of their pocket. If it would, they would just make a new fair tax assessment with a huge tax increase.

The day of my appeal, I went in with papers in hand with comparisons of what other properties are being taxed. My information was gathered from the Fayette County Tax Assessment web site. Already, I lost the battle with having to take a day off work. I went into a room and sat before a panel of three arrogant people.

Pleading the unfair assessment, I got the feeling this panel could care less about my unfair assessment, but they listen, because they are paid to do so. Here I am just a normal tax payer telling the chief tax assessor and his panel that they are wrong and unfair.

If that doesn’t give the panel an attitude, nothing will. Giving my comparisons, one panel member tells me my comparisons from the Fayette County Web site can’t be used. He said the site is only for information not for comparisons. Duh! What a crock! Most of the work for this appeal is now worthless.

I have a few more avenues to take before this appeal was over. Some panel members were staring out the window. Watching people out the window must be way more interesting than listening to the pleas of a mistreated tax payer. The expressions on the faces of the other panel members assured me I had a ways to go before winning this one.

One reason after another was shot down. When I finished, a panel member asked, “is that it?” I reply “yes.” I am told I can leave and to expect an answer in a couple weeks by mail. In a couple weeks, I get my answer denied.

In closing, I would like the voters to remember that state Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-South Union Twp., ran his campaign on eliminating property taxes. Apparently after winning, he forgot his promises. I intend to write him and let him know about his unfulfilled promises. He will never get my vote again. I encourage all voters, property owners, and renters to let Mahoney know where you stand.

George Dugan Jr. is a resident of McClellandtown.

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