Editor, The Transcript:
This maybe the first, last and only time I ever agree with Bobby Cleveland. He is right about property taxes being too high in Cleveland County, particularly on older properties. I have argued many times with David Tinsley that his method of establishing market value is flawed.
He uses the highest sale or sales in a neighborhood to establish and inflated market value for homes in a given area. The problem with the Tinsley formula is that several sales at reduced values have to occur over time for the market value of a property in an area to ever fall to a lower level. Consequently, if there are few or no sales, then values tend to stay the same or possibly increase, even though real estate values have fallen approximately 30 percent or more, particularly in older areas. Tinsley's arbitrary formula does not reflect this decline.
I have checked with a couple of county assessors in surrounding counties who told me they do not use the Tinsley formula which tends to hold properties at their current inflated levels rather than reflect any decline in value.
The problem is not with the state law requiring property values to be raised 5 percent annually. Tinsley piously states he is only following the law. The problem is Tinsley's flawed method of setting market values which tends to inflate them but seldom to adjust values downward when market conditions warrant reductions in value. Seldom does a Democrat and a Republican agree but in this case, we do. We are overpaying in Cleveland County.
Neil McELDERRY JR.
Purcell
