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Hernando Today

Appraiser Controls VAB Process; Elected Officials Fail Taxpayers

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 28, 2008

I feel compelled to write this letter in the hope that others who are getting the same treatment will stand up and say "enough!" What I am referring to is my TRIM notice from our esteemed property appraiser, Alvin Mazourek, who always seems to use technical excuses and "selective" use of sales to inflate our property values.

The property appraiser last year claimed my property value increased 17.5 percent. This was during a time of sluggish sales and tepid economic times. When I tried to reason with the property appraiser's office, they didn't want to hear my arguments, and I was forced to petition the Value Adjustment Board for justice.

What a joke that process was! Mr. Rupe, the supposed "magistrate" was no more than a puppet of the property appraiser, going to lunch with the property appraiser representatives and making a mockery of the VAB process by not allowing my evidence to be entered into the record but allowing the property appraiser representatives to use extremely selective sales to justify what they claimed.

Out of 15 sales in my community that I used to show a 3.2 percent decrease in value, the esteemed representatives of the property appraiser's office used five. Of course, those five, accepted by Mr. Rupe as fact, just happened to be the five most skewed sales, including two homes that were sold furnished. You ask how I know this. I just happen to be the president of our association and know how difficult it is to sell any home. But I was not allowed to introduce the actual numbers. Mr. Rupe cut off my case and sided with the property appraiser, as I would be willing to bet that he did each and every time.

Well, here we go again. While state and local figures compiled by associations of Realtors, economic experts and even the federal government say market values of homes in the greater Tampa area, Florida in general, and even rounded nationally, fell at a 10.95 percent pace, my TRIM notice says our esteemed property appraiser claims only a 4.3 percent drop in values in Hernando County. My value increased $32,000 in 2006 but only fell $14,000 in 2008.

I want to ask this question of our elected commissioners, when will you who are supposed to protect the citizens from government fraud and questionable practices stand up and tell "Alvin and his chipmunks" enough?

I intend to again go through the process of trying to get a fair value rating, but feel that it will be another waste of time. And I don't want to hear "Alvin and the chipmunks" singing they are being fair when they know they inflated values last year knowing this year would be down year and doing everything they could to ensure the county coffers would again receive more money from strapped homeowners.

I hope this paper asks for records from the VAB and property appraiser's office and sees for itself that the whole process is skewed so that Mazourek can get what it appears the commissioners demanded. If that is not the case, why weren't more decisions of Mr. Rupe (who acted as no more than a puppet for the property appraiser's personnel) reviewed and overturned by the commissioners and school board members on the VAB? I can tell you why, Hernando County government, including schools, want more and more money, for raises, new buildings and "pet" projects.

I know this letter will not help me when I visit the property appraiser to try to reason with the supervisors. They have their marching orders and are not going to agree with any resident's arguments or facts when they know they control the VAB process and the magistrates. I can only hope the property appraiser is overwhelmed by residents who realize the fraud and theft of your money by a convoluted, skewed system. It has to stop. We homeowners need help and, unless we get it, you have only seen the beginning of the damage that will be done as people leave Hernando County for areas where elected officials listen to reason and facts and help their citizens.

When I see homes that do sell it is because of "extras" that the property appraiser refuses to consider. Those being: home warranties, selling homes furnished, the seller paying closing costs and association dues, and prices that I see in East Linden Estates that end up reduced sometimes $100,000, just because they can't pay the mortgage and taxes and insurance without jobs.

People are losing their equity but Alvin and his crew of alert chipmunks only see money and the ability to just beat residents into submission by controlling the appeals process, and commissioners and school board members who refuse to do the right thing to help citizens who fight and have evidence. They just rubber stamp the different magistrates' rulings that are probably 95 to 100 percent of the time in favor of the property appraiser. The property appraiser won't use distressed sales, and they refuse to add in value at sales by sellers resorting to the above reasoning.

With Florida law requiring certifications and schooling to run for a property appraiser's position, it gives people like Mazourek a free run. Maybe state Rep. Rob Schenck and Sens. Mike Fasano and Paula Dockery will realize this and change the process before it is too late for Florida.

David Parker

Spring Hill

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