Dolly Dagger's blog: "WHERE I LIVE"

The newest Jones County ripoff is here: The property reassessment. As inflation has increased 19 percent since 2000, my taxes have risen 78 percent since last year with no improvements. With the housing industry in a tailspin, how can this increase be justified? I went through most of the appeal process. First to the tax commissioner (automatic rejection), next the board of appeals (big waste of time). The next step is a jury trial before the Jones County Superior Court. Well, I don't have a lot of confidence that I could get a fair trial in a county where almost everyone knows someone working for local government, the school system, has kids in school or somehow has their finger in the tax pie. Everyone I've dealt with so far is on the county's payroll. Why would they want my taxes lowered? I thought counties weren't allowed to reap windfalls due to reassessment. Well, $176 million sounds like a windfall to me. Yeah, they tossed a couple of crumbs (less than 2 mills). Am I the only one who feels gouged? Jones County has done what House Speaker Glenn Richardson could never do on his own: Turn many people toward doing away with property taxes. Tax my haircut; see if I care. Class action lawsuit anyone? I asked the board members if they'd buy my home for what they thought it was worth(hell, they are taxing me as if I live in a million dollar home) and not one of them had an answer. Even if you pay your home off..you're NEVER EVER really gonna own it.