Fair Market Value

The WayneWho staff caught an interesting Letter to the Editor in Saturday's Osceola News-Gazette. The letter titled "Political Nonsense" which is written by a "professional real estate appraiser for over 40 years" attacking Property Appraiser Candidate Jeff Miller for an ad he ran in the same paper about the valuation of structures at the Garnder Hunting Club which, it seems, the letter writer believes should continue to fly under the radar of the 'Tax Man/Woman' so those of means can continue to enjoy their hobbies. The writer's claim is that the structures in question were valued properly based on Florida statutes which state the property is to be valued at "fair market value." He then essentially claims that since the structures would only have added value for the 14 or so members of the club, it makes no sense to tax the structure. Hmmm...?

First, we find it hard to take any lesson about "fair market value" seriously from a "professional real estate appraiser." Before you try to teach the rest of us on an issue such as this, maybe you should explain the negligent and bloated appraisals that were floating around Osceola county even as the housing crisis was unfolding. In the pre-crisis days, there were those in your profession that would have made sure the value on the structures in question were ten times their true value if a non-insider was interested in making a purchase. In fact there are many in the area that would love to continue the tradition of bloating appraisals on structures even as their current owners' belongings are being thrown into the street. We would say this country has suffered more because the housing nonsense than from this year's local political nonsense.

We think attacking Mr. Miller for pointing out possible flaws in the appraiser's office is wrong. At the same time we think that blaming all of the problems in the Property Appraiser's office on Ms. Scarborough is also wrong. We were actually glad to see a real debate on an important issue forming so we could better judge who would be best in office by some other metric than who is the most popular. We hope that these types of debates on honest issues continue and that candidates discuss the issues instead of dismissing them as nonsense. It is that lack of honest discussion of issues that kept Bob Day in place for way too long.