"A tale of 2 tax bills"...

[Chief]

The gist of the cover story from the Sunday morning fishwrapper is this:

House in Camas: Assessed Value:$ 289,200.00
Annual Taxes: $ 3,351.19

House in Battle Ground: Assessed Value:$ 279,700.00
Annual Taxes: $ 1,708.74

A few talking points, if I may...

*** For the record, both of these homes are worth more, and taxed higher than commercial properties <a href="http://clarkblog.org/index.php/topic,1222.msg3117.html#new">sold by the City of America's Vancouver</a> to their fast friend Ellie Kassab...

*** That homeowner in Battle Ground should be very afraid, because the Columbian just dimed him out to Public Enemy Number One (PENO), Linda Franklin, DemocRat, Clark County's Assessor. Look for a visit from Codes Compliance in the near future, with a Noitce of Reassessment to follow soon after...

*** The Battle Ground couple are typical of your average clueless homeowner, and likely apathetic non-voter here in Clark County. These two own a house and have no clue what their annual property taxes are. I wonder if they even deducted them on their latest tax return, because most people who do realize what a major deduction Property Taxes are on your Federal return, and are therefore at least marginally aware of what the amountt they just filed their taxes with.

*** I wonder if the Battle Ground couple knows how much<a href="http://clarkblog.org/index.php/topic,412.0.html">they like Loot Rail??</a> They may soon find out the hard way that they will pay for it too, though it will come <a href="http://clarkblog.org/index.php/topic,1024.0.html">nowhere near them,</a> <a href="http://clarkblog.org/index.php/topic,1184.0.html">if some get their way...</a>



*** But then again, to quote one of my neighbors from last Summer, upon reading the notice of a 32% increase in value on her home...

"Well, they must need the money."

*** The couple in Camas ought to also be worried, because recent reports indicate that PENO's flying monkeys <a href="http://clarkblog.org/index.php/topic,1013.0.html">will be in their neighborhood this summer,</a> digital cameras at the ready, taking pictures from curbside to use for justification of the impending unreasonable, confiscatory, and predatory reassessment that is in theri future this August. If they think their taxes are high now, wait until they get their notice of what PENO intends to shove down thier throats next year. I'll say right now that they are soon to find out that their house is worth well in excess of $300,000, so they should bend over, and stand by. Of course, they can always <a href="http://clarkblog.org/index.php/topic,68.0.html">appeal</a> that reassessment...and if they do, Good Luck...

***The Camas Couple had better hope and pray that the Riverwalk project lives up to it's expectations, or they will be faced with a future assessment to pay off the public debt that will no doubt be attached to it. Converting industrial property to Commercial/Retail is a big decision that is fraught with pitfalls along the way. If that project cannot pull it's own weight, the people in that Port District will...

*** Once again, the Columbian proves that it is (A) months behind the real story, and (B) would not know what a piece of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigative_journalism">"Investigative Journalism"</a> was if it snuck up and bit them on the ass.

[Chief]

Updating....

John Laird, Editorial Page Editor for the Columbian, cannot even correctly quote the numbers from a story that ran one week ago in his own Newspaper!

His "editorial" quotes this story, and uses the amounts "$240,700" an "$215,200" as the values of these two homes.

Here are the direct quotes from that story in the Columbian:

http://columbian.com/news/localNews/04292007news133289.cfm

Michaelis, 25, lives with his wife, Angie Domreis, in a $279,000 house in the City of Battle Ground, which is - this year, at least - home to lower property taxes than any other residential area of the county.

Assessor's records put the couple's 2007 property tax at $1,710.And this

The Delgados live in the highest-taxed residential district in the county: the intersection of the county's highest-tax city and port district and its second-priciest school district.

Their tax bill ran to $3,351 this year. That's almost twice the Battle Ground couple's bill, though the two houses have nearly the same assessed value.

So the Texas wonder misquotes (significantly!!) the numbers from his own story, and uses that as the foundation to launch yet another sniping attack on the taxpayers in Clark County.  He uses that damned "Hounds of Whinerville" wise crack a couple of times, and he's just plain wrong, again!!

If John Laird had an ounce of honor, he would resign.  If the Columbian had any sense of responsibility, they would at least remove him from the Editorial position he occupies now.  It's obvious that he is simply too much of a biased Liberal to have any sense of balance or restraint, and along with Tom Koenninger, ought not be given such a prominent podium to spew their confrontational nonsense any longer.

And while we are on the subject of Editors, yesterday Lou Brancaccio, (who I still insist is the worst "writer" that I have ever seen published on a regular basis) used his column to take a couple of backhanded swipes at the internet.  Lou also possesses absolutely no balance, his writing is abysmal, he blathers on and on about how great life was in old Chicago, and he is every bit as much out of touch with the Community as the other two are, not to mention his panchant for hollow legal action threats...(see Exhibit "A").

Frankly the only person I have any respect for on the Editorial staff down there is Greg Harrington.  At least he doesn't use the derogatory terms for the local citizenry that Laird, Koenninger, and Brancaccio do.

Time for a change.

[sensibilist]

You know Chief, I really have to take offence. Having been labeled as both a liberal and a democrat, conservative and a republican, and a Gods fearing atheist, I'm having a problem with being aligned with the likes of Laird, Koenninger, and Brancaccio.

Brancaccio I think, was especially off base yesterday in his column. People want the likes of Mike Rycko-they want the tension it creates-they want the banter that comes with it. The excitement of the not dull grey. They want, indeed crave, anything that will allow them to flee the confines of their lives of mediocre existence.

And they wonder why circulation is down.

Fortunately for me...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~
"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
is that you end up being governed by your inferiors."
-Plato
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Chief]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/SeniorChieftain/square-large-nutjob.jpg

;D

[Chief]

Here it is, 5:00 on Sunday afternoon, and they still have not updated their website!

and they wonder why they are getting plowed under by the Internet... ::)

[sensibilist]

From what I've witnessed I honestly don't believe they're bright enough to wonder Chief. They just don't want to believe that they're not in Kansas anymore.

"Small minds want to know" appears to be their motto.

"Vancouver-Better than Gresham"