LETTER: Not just a Shoshone County issue

I'm writing this letter out of frustration like many property owners in Shoshone County. I received my tax bill in the mail and my first thought is you have to be kidding me. Like many, I went to see the assessor and like many, I'm still not happy about it.

I would like to thank Jerry White for his time and for educating me on how the taxes are assessed. So to the good people of Shoshone County who are upset about your taxes, you can thank these people moving in and paying overinflated prices for these homes, which in turn drive the assessed price of our properties up. This has a trickle-down effect on who can afford to buy or rent a home in the county.

For those of you who were raised here and have kids or grandkids, are they able to afford to buy or rent a home for these prices? What about the retired people on a fixed income who have lived in the same house for 40 or 50 years and are assessed at a ridiculous amount? This is why we see more people living in RVs and Ziggy sheds.

So we need to call our representatives in Boise and tell them they need to fix this at the state level. They need to cut the property taxes and or raise the homeowner’s tax exemption. This isn't just a Shoshone County problem, this is most of the counties in Idaho.

LARRY HAMMER

Kingston