Under the circumstances, I would take your case at least one step further the next time, to the Board of Tax Appeals. But, the argument that the assessor’s trends are not appropriate will not likely be enough. It is necessary for you to provide some good comps in order to support your position with regard to the value of your property. If you do that, you should “win”.

The solution for commissioners who pay no attention to their constituents is obvious: get new commissioners. That, as always, is up to the voters.

If you appeal it is your word against Bob McQuade and his staff of “appraisers” ( I use that word VERY loosly). Your chances are virtually 0% of getting anything changed. They plan it that way.

If you want to go there, the math is simple.
Your Tax Bill = (Total County Budget x Your Appraised Value) / Sum of All County Property Values

If everyone’s assessment goes up ten percent, and the county budget remains unchanged, your tax bill will remain unchanged. Where you get into trouble is if the assessor increases the appraisal of your property more than they do other properties. Then you will be asked/told to pay a higher portion of the county’s total bill. And, you would be justified in appealing your assessment.

While the appraisal of your property is an important piece of the puzzle, it is often a red herring. The real force behind ever increasing tax bills is ever increasing county spending. When the county’s spending goes up, whether it is because of higher levels of service, growth, malfeasance, incompetent management, or whatever, the increased cost will be charged to tax payers. And, unless you can work a miracle by arranging for your assessment to go down while everyone else’s stays the same or goes up, you will receive a higher tax bill.

Challenging your appraisal is good for you. Challenging the county’s management and spending decisions is good for everyone.

If you are still not satisfied with the value the County has placed on your property, you can then appeal to the Idaho Board of Tax Appeals. Your last avenue of appeal would be to the District Court.

Before you take any or all of these steps, please keep in mind that the assessor’s role is to determine “fair market value” as of January 1. Fair market value is not only a moving target, but is often difficult to pin down, depending on available comparable sales. A recent appraisal from a certified appraiser would be your best tool to use to get your value reduced. Next best would be recent sales of similar properties in the same area as your property.

If there are unusual circumstances in your neighborhood that you believe bring down the value of your home, such as a drug house next door, or numerous properties that are not maintained, be sure to point these things out when you appeal.

If you are in doubt about your property value, you have nothing to lose by calling the assessor’s office and talking with your appraiser about it. S/he should be able to provide comps to support the value s/he has placed on the property, even if it was set using trending. It behooves you to do your homework and have some good comps of your own, as well, before calling.

Two years ago I personally asked the county to see the actual documents they used to raise my taxes 28%. They refused and I had to file an appeal – then the County Assessor had to admit that they “just used SOME AVERAGES to make the determinations”.

In others words they just “wing it” when it comes to setting the values – and they admit it and there is NO way that their “averages” will be reduced.

As for the numbers, the article said ” a closer analysis of MLS data shows that 63 percent of homes for sale are owned by investors, many of whom got into the Boise market to take advantage of skyrocketing prices in 2005 and early 2006.”

That means they were purchased and are being resold and not built on speculation recently. I know people(Californian’s) that purchased housing sight unseen for investment properties. The valley is in a slump but not from overbuilding in the last six months.

I know the words good and development don’t go together in most Growthophobes vocabulary. But as Snoop indicated, not everything being built or planned is all bad all the time. Let’s list some “good development” so the Greedy Developers know where to focus their energies and cash.

I will start first. Bown Crossing, good mix of uses in an overlooked area of town.

I can just imagine a group of Indians watching a settler building his house 100+ years ago complaining about the high cost of the infrastructure required by all this new development.