Still waiting on year-old appeal

I’m intrigued by the July 20 letter wondering if there should be a class action lawsuit against our county assessor, Cindy Portmann, over the over-valuations that she has performed on Snohomish County properties.

During the past few years, the actual appraised value of my home has dropped 37 percent. Ms. Portmann disagrees and assessed the value of my home up 136 percent. Which, of course, is ludicrous.

The letter writer suggests that we possibly file a class action lawsuit against Ms. Portmann for her legalized theft of Snohomish County homeowners’ money. While I believe that is entirely warranted, it would pit us against the “system.”

I appealed the ridiculous over-valuation of my property over a year ago and have yet to receive a decision. Instead, I receive justifications for the whopping increase of the value of my property that are as ridiculous as the assessments themselves. For example, Ms. Portmann sent me a letter saying that she is “required” to assess properties to a certain level in order to guarantee a specific property tax dollar return for the county. Unbelievable, and I think it more practical that we homeowners simply vote our so-called county assessor out of office when she next runs for re-election. She possesses dubious degrees of honesty, integrity and intelligence.

Mike McDonald
Snohomish