February 18, 2008
Monday AM

If I lived at the level to which the Ketchikan Gateway Borough has assessed my property value at; I'd be in a really nice home with a paved road and a half acre lot around me. Instead, I live in an two bedroom logging camp trailer on a quarter acre lot at the end of a (unmaintained) gravel road. Yet somehow; the value has been assessed at almost 200k! I would REALLY like to know the criteria that is used to assess our property values because I'm at a loss to fathom how my property can be assessed at such a phenomenal amount.

It's interesting to note that while the rest of the State has experienced growth; Southeast Alaska has actually seen a decline in population. Could it be because our local governments have done nothing to make it any easier to stay here?

I'm tired of the mismanagement of our tax dollars and the sidewise methods that used to get their hands on more of our money, (raised assessments, sludge fees, etc.). If I ran a business the way they run the local government, my customers (who have a choice by the way) would have nothing to do with me in no time.

Jennifer Brewer
Ketchikan, AK

About: "Eight resident of Ketchikan, sixteen year resident of Alaska, and someone who's tired of throwing money into the bottomless pit of the KGB coffers."

Received February 11, 2008 - Published February 18, 2008

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Ketchikan, Alaska