Let's storm the gas stations

I'm gonna get a little political today. Normally, I refrain from such things, but I think one of my friends is getting a raw deal in the press. My friend is smart, dedicated to doing her job right and honest to the core. She grew up here in Sandpoint. She knows this community as well as I do, and she loves this community with the same passion that I do. She's the last person who would ever inflict pain on the people she knows or on the place she calls home.

Her name is Judie Conlan. After working for years on the Bonner County Assessor's staff, she assumed leadership of the office a few years ago. Since that time, she has worked tirelessly to communicate with the public and to run the assessor's office with the utmost efficiency.

We have just received our property tax assessment. It sky rocketed from last year's, but Bill and I aren't blaming Judie. We're not rushing down to her office demanding answers. We think we know the answers because we've been watching what's been going on here in Bonner County and North Idaho for the past three or four years.

Has anyone else out there noticed that a thriving real estate market has driven property values through the ceiling? Has anyone noticed that a lot of people are flocking here from all over the country and the world and that their demand for housing (be it affordable (?) or palatial) causes that real estate market to remain at an outlandish level?

Judie did not invite all these people here. She had nothing to do with opening the doors and welcoming the masses to find their nirvana here in good ol' Bonner County. Our population has increased because of media attention, because of career flexibility created through the Internet, because of a global economy, because a growing business sector is attracting workers from throughout the world, because this place is so pretty and people tell other people how pretty it is. The list could go on.

The world is moving, and it's not just moving to Sandpoint. The population boom is occurring in several other parts of the country also where real estate prices and tax assessments are also increasing. But, let's stick with this area. With all these people moving here, we have some major infrastructure needs. None of us would like to think about that, but eventually something's going to have to be done about the schools, the wastewater facilities, the roads, and the general utilities that need expansion or improvement when more people are putting more demand on their use.

While all this has been happening Judie Conlan and her assessor staff have been doing their jobs to the best of their ability and with the resources available. Judie has done her job just like the folks in the gas stations do their jobs every day---the managers and their employees. The people in the gas stations are not responsible for sky-rocketing gas prices, just like Judie Conlan is not responsible for sky rocketing real estate prices.

Now, if I were like some of the media outlets I've been reading lately who seem to delight in inciting the masses (basic journalism says that's a no-no in news stories), I'd suggest that while you're rushing the assessor's office to complain about your property tax bill, you should also stop at your regular gas pump and hassle the workers there too. After all, you have to pay those high prices for your gas, and they're the poor saps who expect you to pay up when you use the pump. From what I've read lately, gas prices make people mad too.

We live in a small community here in North Idaho which is going through the growing pains of events virtually beyond our control. Property taxes make us seethe no matter what. It's been that way since the tea party. But even since the tea party, somebody's had to be the bearer of the bad news. The old statement "don't kill the messenger" seems to be as appropriate as ever with this latest sticker shock in Bonner County.

I believe it's ridiculous to aim animosity at the assessor's office for a situation precipitated by a host of other factors having nothing to do with Judie Conlan and her staff. I believe in Judie, my friend. I believe in Judie, the assessor. Whether Judie, a Democrat, or XXXXXX, a Republican, were running the assessor's office, the situation we are seeing today would not be any different. XXXXX could hardly stop the masses from flowing in here and driving up real estate prices.

Yes, it is just as ridiculous to accost the gas station workers as it is the assessor and her staff. Let's calm down, and put the pressure on the people who make the laws, which Judie and all other assessors follow when they compute those tax statements. Seems like that would make a lot more sense.

The only other idea I have is to construct a gate and an all-encompassing fence around Bonner County. Since the Commissioners said just a couple of weeks ago that it's okay to have private gated communities here, maybe they can put my idea on the agenda when they determine the budget. After all, their budget is gonna determine how high the tax payments are actually going to be anyhow.