With housing prices plummeting, and numerous people losing their homes, why doesn’t someone get the tax auditor under control? My manufactured house, which is on a 2 and 3/10th acre wooded lot of diseased red alders and hemlocks, cost a total of about $145,000 in 2000. That included the house ($84,000), the lot ($35,000), and the improvements.

The assessor rated the property at $257,812 in 2008, an increase of more than 20.3 percent from the year before. That is more than $112,000, or nearly twice as much, as it cost. When I appealed to the Island County Board of Equalization, only two of three members of the board were present (only two of them took part in the discussion), and they gave the assessor everything he asked for, totally disregarding my presentation.

In my presentation, I presented written proof that the assessor has been rating properties tens of thousands of dollars higher than they sold for. The assessor also compared my property with those that were very dissimilar. He described my property using false information, which the board of equalization refused to reconsider.

To show how others view my property, I responded to Liberty Reverse Mortgage, who said I could receive $14,000 if I applied. But after negotiations were over, they said I would have to pay them $1,600 instead of receiving any funds. Obviously, I did not accept their “offer.”

I asked the board to reconsider their decision before the full committee, but they have not bothered to answer my request.

John C. Wilkens

Oak Harbor