St Tammany Parish, where CrabAppleLane is located, is cracking down on property owners who designate their property incorrectly. Some, probably most, do so to get a more favorable property tax rate. Some have their property designated as agricultural even though the only thing they're farming is azaleas and centipede grass. There are several designations that will get you a better rate. I digress. We received a letter stating that we needed to fill out a new "Use Value Application/Agreement" if we wanted to maintain our "Use Value Assessment" eligibility. I didn't remember ever filling out an old "Use Value Application/Agreement" so I figured they just sent these letters to everyone. I never looked into it. Dumb mistake. Apparently, they sent these only to those who had filled out an agreement. We got a second letter this week. This one stated that our assessment will go up by 15% or more and our property taxes will rise accordingly if we didn't fill out the new agreement. THAT got my attention but I still had no idea what they were talking about. I fired off an email that was snippier than it had to be asking them to explain it to me. Worse, I even had a typo that I discovered just now. I must have seemed like an imbecile.
The public servant who responded was very gracious in his/her response that we HAD filled out such a document and had designated 1 acre for our residence and 4 acres for timberland and they simply wanted us to confirm we were still using it that way. It was one of those 500 documents we signed at closing and undoubtedly we signed it sometime between when our brains stopped absorbing anything they were saying and when our wrists started to cramp. No excuse. I apologized and expressed thanks but it seems inadequate. I still feel bad about it.
5 fights broke out yesterday between the Saints and Texans. Good to get that out of their system, I suppose. All scrimmages are over now. Time to start getting down to business.
20 days until football season ...
- Wild Honey - Nazareth - Play 'N' The Game
- The Green Manalishi - Judas Priest - Living After Midnight
- Starstruck - Rainbow - Rising
- But You Know I Love You - Alison Krauss & Union Station - Live [Disc 2]
- Distant Early Warning - Rush - Chronicles [Disc 2]
Quote of the Day
People affected by the spill seeking final settlements face a choice similar to that faced by the 9/11 victims: If they decide to sue instead of accepting a settlement, they could face years of litigation; and if they decide to accept the settlement, it could come before the full damage from the spill is known.
Ian Urbina, New York Times
Blog of the day is here.
Quote from said blog: "Do you have comments closed on your site after a certain date, or do you allow comments indefinitely? What are the pros and cons you have experienced?"
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I have yet to meet a rude city employee where I live. They haven't haven't always told me what I wanted to hear, but they have been universally pleasant and professional.
My experiences with city or parish employees here have run the gamut from courteous, professional, and helpful to very nice but inept. No one was rude, though. You have to go to New Orleans for that. You'll find it in good quantity at the car impound lot. Talk about products of their environment ... :)
Haven't seen much ineptness here, but your take on the big city and rudeness applies here also.