County officials pricing locals out of their homes

Our property tax went up 59% this year. When the assessment came back nearly doubling our property value, the county commissioners waved it off citing the 3% thing. As fixed-income retirees, this is very concerning.

They compared our house with three luxurious VRBO rentals with the capacity to sleep four times the guests. Yes, businesses that generate revenue. They assessed us for over $100,000 in outbuildings when we had only a small shed and a tarp over our BBQ. They assessed us as lakefront with beaches even though we are in wetlands with a walkway through the cattails. 

We spent hours wading through the red tape to contest the assessment only to be dismissed summarily by the commissioners who didn't even bother to read our documentation. Then we found out that there is a high-density subdivision approved on our cul-de-sac and the Albeni problems may mean no lakefront for us for six years.

They are pricing longtime residents out of waterfront property, to be converted to higher revenue-generating properties. Is recertification, what we want? The county can't increase the budget by more than 3%. Yet, our taxes went up 59%. Whose property tax went down? Or is there a loophole where additional money can go to … say, trespassing lawsuits?

KATHRYN LARSON

Sandpoint