Immoral or out of touch? Bogus Property Values

Recently the DNJ ran the story Property appraisals to bring in $1.3M 

Location, location, location is what they say matters most for real estate values, but in Rutherford county the values of property falls, and yet, the county property assessor raises appraised values? What good are appraisals that are inaccurate? For the past 20 years government appraisals have been 10 to 20% below market value, and now the opposite is true. My house appraises for a value I'd gladly take if someone was willing to pay it. I have watched housing prices fall dramatically all over Murfreesboro. Zillow.com gives me the bad news in my Mint.com account all the time. With every sale, the value falls. 

I also recently read, Falling Home Prices More Than Erase $8,000 Tax Credit for Many Buyers, a blog post in the WSJ that serves as another example of news stating that values are falling. 

To say that property values are rising in Murfreesboro is a misstatement. 23,000 notices will be sent out by Bill Boner, of which only 5500 went down in value. I believe this is the county's way of raising taxes on the people. The county commission does not have the resolve to raise taxes because they know people will not stand for it, and either Boner is acting immoral or he is simply out of touch. 

We need a property appraiser that is willing to do the job honestly. They need to appraise the property for a more accurate market value.  When I raised an issue with our Boner last year about raising property values in a falling real estate market his explanation was upsetting to me. He said that if he didn't raise property values then the county commission would just raise tax rates. 

How is that validation for bad policy? 

Let the county commission raise the rate if that is what the county needs, but do not give out bogus property values. The county is stealing from the people when this occurs. 

I hope in the upcoming election cycle that we are able to find an assessor that is willing to tell the truth.  The people of Rutherford County deserve honest government. Not just when values are rising, but when they are falling as well.